Shattered Freedom
by sisko66002
Summary: Hiei and Yusuke are betrayed and thrown into a completely unexpected situation. An alien and a demon thought dead are controling the situation so that they may complete their goals and still have fun. Not the same as on . MM FM noncon
1. Prologue

Prologue

Deep in the heart of Makai, a hanyou wearing a baboon cloak stood in the ruins of a long abandoned castle. At his feet lay the body of a wolf demo whom once, long ago, had been the ally of the half dog demon Inuyasha who was this hanyou's greatest enemy. The hanyou was Naraku who had been born as the human Onigumo. That had changed when Onigumo had given himself, body and soul, to the demons so that he could have his beloved Kikyo and the Shikon no Tama. Kouga, the now fallen wolf demon, had paid for his mistake of opposing Naraku with his life.

During his last battle with Inuyasha, Naraku had finally learned the half dog demon's greatest weakness. It had surprised him when he first realized it because that greatest strength was something that Naraku could not understand and that is probably why it took him more then five hundred years to figure it out. He would have figured it out much faster if it had been Inuyasha's powerful, yet demonic, sword Tetsusaiga or the powerful demon blood he had inherited from his father, the once highly respected Inutaisho. The greatest strength had been Inuyasha's ability to acquire equally powerful friends and allies to help him win his battles.

It was about that time that he had met his new ally and that same new ally had suggested an entirely new strategy that Naraku was rather fond of. Divide and conquer was an old strategy, but it was still quite new to Naraku. Kouga was merely one of many who would fall prey to that new strategy.

There was another man entering the ruins. This man, who had haunted the nightmares of more people then Naraku could ever hope to, was Naraku's new ally. This ally who Naraku had unwisely put all his trust in was using him. Using him to get his own hands on the Shikon no Tama so he could force those few people he thought had anything resembling actual power in this dimension he currently inhabited to work for him so that he could return to his own dimension and have the basis of an army he could use to resume his reign of terror. Lesser goals included two purple-haired saiyan twins he had been rather fond of in the past, meaning he liked their screams of pain and terror, and getting rid of the equally purple-haired brat who had nearly killed him.


	2. Chapter One

Chapter One

Kurama looked up from his homework when a familiar presence made herself known outside his bedroom window. It was Boton, but she was not her usual, bubbly self. In fact, she seemed to be quite upset about something, but Kurama got no chance to question her before she flew off on her oar. The letter she left behind on the windowsill was from Koenma. It was short, to the point, and worded most cruelly.

To Youko Kurama,

You are to have no more contact with either Yusuke or Hiei. My father, your King, has given them to my adopted sisters for their sixteenth birthday. If you ever attempt to contact them then everyone that you and they hold dear shall be punished for your transgression.

Your Prince,

Koenma

Kurama stared at the latter for what seemed to be hours before setting it down. He would find a way to free his friends and avoid the consequences that had been threatened. It was just a matter of time.

He was dead. His best friend Kuwabara was dead and that was all that Yusuke could think about. That and running. It was true that no one would believe it, but Yusuke Uremeshi, Reikei Tentei and Demon Lord of Toranin, had been reduced to running for his life. The battle had essentially been over he moment they had been ambushed by Mukuro's army, turning a pleasant battle to retrieve a minor artifact into a battle that Kuwabara and Yusuke had no hope of winning.

Yusuke had tried to tell them that he was a friend and ally of Hiei and that they did not want to face the wrath of their Lord's chosen heir. They were not impressed choosing to attack instead of taking the wiser option of cowering in fear. It would not be until many hours later that he would learn why the demons who composed Mukuro's army had behaved so oddly.

Right now, Yusuke had no time for such thoughts. His pursuers were beginning to surround him and he knew that once that happened it was all over with. The nearest portal to either of the other realms was too far away for him to reach it in time. Not even Puu could be there before it was too late. A tiny part of him hoped that Koenma would let him say his good-byes in person.

It happened before he had expected it to. A demon that he hadn't seen or sensed tackled him, forcing him down on his back and pinning his arms above his head. A knee was roughly thrust into Yusuke's stomach, making sure that the infamous Tentei could not struggle as his hands were secured behind his back by one of the soldier's belts.

Never before had Yusuke wished more that either Hiei or Kurama or even both would show up and save him from this mess that he had gotten himself into. When his pants were roughly yanked down to his ankles he knew that if they did show up he'd be too grateful for the rescue to be embarrassed.

POV Change

Mukuro's Third in Command, General Nirzon

General Nirzon almost grinned as he watched one of his men restrain the infamous Reikei Tentei, Yusuke Uremeshi. To see the cocky Tentei reduced so quickly to such helpless submissiveness with his pants down around his ankles was a very arousing site for the panther demon.

Nirzon reached out with a clawed hand and shredded Yusuke's boxers, making sure his claws carved deep slices in the Tentei's thigh. The pained mewling sound that his actions wrung from his helpless victim was music to his ears and made it quite difficult to keep his pleasure from showing on his face He roughly flipped Yusuke over on to his stomach before wrenching his legs apart. A single clawed finger was forced into Yusuke's opening, causing the Tentei to try to try to jerk away because of the sudden pain. A second clawed finger was added and the fingers scissored, wringing a scream of pain from Yusuke. The purpose of which had not bot been to make the inevitable easier. It had been to cut the sensitive flesh inside Yusuke's rectum and make him bleed even more then he would have. When those now, bloody fingers were removed Yusuke froze in obvious fear of what would come next.

A mere heartbeat later, Nirzon had fully settled himself on top of Yusuke and a heartbeat after that he was fully sheathed inside the Tentei's tight heat. The pain-filled scream that followed brought many pleased smirks to the faces of the surrounding soldiers. Nirzon grunted at the tight, bleeding flesh that surrounded his cock before pulling out almost completely and then slamming back in as hard as he could and then repeating the process over and over again. A pleased and lust-filled smirk stole across the generals face as his actions brought a multitude of pain-filled screams and even more of those pained mewling sounds from his victim, each sound being music to the general's ears. Finally, Nirzon gave one final grunt as he came explosively inside Yusuke.

Normal POV Resumes

Yusuke could no longer hold back his tears that the monsters who had stolen his virginity pulled out of him. He could hear the amused chuckling of the soldiers who surrounded him and knew without looking that those who had remained silent were at least smirking at his pain.

Suddenly a hand grabbed Yusuke's hair and pulled him up till he was barely resting on his knees. The sight that met his eyes made him whimper in fear. He knew what they wanted and that they would force him to do it. The sight of the inhumanly large, weeping cock was all the instruction that Yusuke needed, but for a moment his inner Mazoku rose, screaming at him to not do what the demons around him wanted him to do.

"Damnit, ningen. You know what to do. So do it." Growled the angry demon who held Yusuke up.

Yusuke opened his mouth to protest, but was cut off as his mouth was filled with the demon's weeping cock. Yusuke bit down with every last bit of his strength, causing the demon to scream in pain and earning himself a harsh blow to the head. Then, as the demon began to pull back his fist for another punch, Yusuke began to unenthusiastically suck on the demon's cock. Seconds later the demon's hips began to thrust forward, pushing himself further down Yusuke's throat and nearly causing the Tentei to gag. When he came, pouring his seed down Yusuke's throat, and pulled out Yusuke could do nothing but cough and wince in pain as his abused throat began to match the pain in his abused rear end.

Not even a full second had passed before Yusuke was dropped to the ground and a third demon was buried to the balls inside Yusuke's much abused and bleeding rectum.

Eventually, Yusuke found himself drifting away as though the pain he suffered was somebody else's pain. The pain was faded but Yusuke's vision was still blurred by more then tears and a concussion. By the time that the demons were through with him he was operating on autopilot. Consciousness faded before the full effect of the demon's actions could sink in.


	3. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Hiei's short, heavily battered, body trembled with suppressed rage as he was dragged out of Koenma's office in warded chains. His rage was mostly focused on himself. He shouldn't have let his guard down. Shouldn't have fallen into the trap that Koenma had led him into. But he had and because of that he had not noticed the trap being sprung until it was too late to avoid it.

He had seen Koenma nod to someone that he could not see and then the floor had suddenly dropped out from under him. The drop had only been about ten feet, but it had left him ill prepared to defend himself against the danger that had awaited him.

A woman whose very soul screamed purity had been waiting for him and advanced before his balance was secure. It was only by the barest of margins that Hiei had managed to avoid the massive wave of purifying energy that the miko had sent at him. Less then a heartbeat later, Hiei had drawn his sword and was advancing on the woman carefully. The very fact that she was a miko, especially one of considerable power, gave her the upper hand in this battle and Hiei was not stupid enough to allow himself to forget that.

The battle that had followed had been intense and there was more then one time that Hiei had only narrowly survived one of the miko's seemingly endless purification attempts. With each attack that he evaded he had closed in more and more on his target. With each foot that he gained the miko was increasingly rattled by both his proximity and her inability to deal with this one demon.

It was just as Hiei had prepared to go in for the kill that a blast of purification energy had all but obliterated the wards that kept Hiei's dragon in check and Hiei had not been able to keep it contained. It had launched itself from his arm, even as its power had caused his bandana to disintegrate and reveal his jagan eye in all its glowing, purple glory.

The miko had had no chance against the fearsome power of the Dragon of the Darkness Flame and was reduced to nothing but a burnt spot on a wall within moments. When the dragon had returned itself to Hiei's arm he began to feel the familiar lassitude that always followed his use of the dragon's power. Just a few seconds later he fell into a deep, deep sleep. No one had been there to catch him when he fell to the ground.

And now here he was being dragged from his former boss's office in heavily warded chains by an ogre who usually feared him. The rough stone floor of the hallway was tearing up his clothing and cutting up his back. Hiei bit his lip to keep from crying out as his wounds, new and old alike, were being worsened by the rough treatment and irritated by the dirt on the obviously unswept floor.

Now he could no longer be there to protect his sister. Yukina deserved so much better then that. He had let down his allies who were to him, though he would never admit it out loud, closer to him then anyone else had ever been. That is except for his sister, Yukina.

A sudden drop caused Hiei to cry out in pain as his head hit the sharp edge of a stone stair, but he bit his lip and managed to silence it quickly. Every step that the ogre took down that staircase jolted his body and sent new waves of pain throughout his body. By the time that the ogre was halfway down those stairs, Hiei's consciousness was fading and by the time he reached the bottom Hiei was unconscious.

Koenma recoiled in fear when he saw the look on his adopted sister's face as she stormed into his office.

"What are you up to Koenma? I've been hearing things that I don't like." Asked the very angry princess.

"But, Ariana." began Koenma.

"But nothing. Boton burst in to the apartment I share with Ariel and she was in tears. She told us that you had ordered Hiei's execution and that you had purposely sent both Yusuke and Kuwabara up against Mukuro's entire army by themselves. She even told us that you had gone as far as to lie to and threaten Kurama, saying that our father had given Yusuke and Hiei to me and my sister for our sixteenth birthday." Said Ariana.

"So what." Said Koenma.

"Well Ariel and I really do want them and we would be quite upset if you killed them because of your petty fears and prejudices." Said Ariana.

"Fine. You can have them but don't come crying to me for help when you need it." Said Koenma.

"Help? Like you could do anything. You who fear the possibility of the Forbidden Child finding true love, even when it would pose no threat to you. You who would solve that non-existent problem by slaughtering both parties involved. You are a weak, pathetic nothing who knows nothing of real power and even less of true strength." Said Ariana before she turned and stormed out of Koenma's office.

Much later Hiei woke under the covers of a large bed in a seemingly empty room. His clothes and katana had been taken. His injuries healed. He started to get up, but was stopped by someone whose presence he had not sensed. She appeared at first glance to be a normal human girl with dark purple hair and light blue eyes, but Hiei's senses told him another story. Hiei knew that she was by no means a normal human girl because he could not identify what she was. All that he knew was that this girl was neither human nor demon. She was something unlike anything he had ever sensed before.

"Not so fast, Little One. You are not getting away from me so easily." Said the girl.

Hiei tried again but the girl was faster then he was and had the strength to block every move he made. He couldn't even get out from under the covers. Three attempts was all it took for Hiei to realize the futility of using speed to get away from his captor so he decided to use fire, but the fire he usually controlled so easily would not come to him. Hiei began to panic as he realized that he could not access any of his youki and without that it would be useless to try to summon his most powerful attack. That very lack of youki was probably why the dragon had not launched itself despite the lack of both wards on his arms and his bandana to cover his jagan eye.

Moments later Hiei's arms were pinned to his sides and his captor had settled her weight over his hips. Hiei tried to buck her off, but she easily rode out the attempt. He tried again with the same results. It was then that Hiei realized he didn't have a chance to escape. He really didn't want to admit it, even to himself, but he had been totally defeated. He forced himself to relax his wire tense body, but it was difficult.

Hiei felt the girl shift as he relaxed his body, pinning his arms with her legs instead of her hands. A small part of him wanted to close his eyes so he wouldn't have to see what would happen next, but a larger part of him was angry and wanted answers. Hiei was a lot better at being angry then he was at being scared.

"Who the hell are you and why won't you let me go?" asked Hiei as he glared angrily at his captor.

She just smiled at him for a moment while running the fingers of her right hand on his left cheek.

"Such an angry demand, but I suppose I'll answer your questions anyway. After all those are things that you do need to know and I was planning on telling you anyway. My name is Ariana. The reason you are here is because Koenma, being the prejudiced and hateful bastard that he is, attempted to kill both you and Yusuke. He didn't succeed on either count but Kuwabara got caught in the crossfire and killed when Mukuro made a rather hasty and angry reaction to reports of your disappearance by sending her entire army after Yusuke while he and Kuwabara were on what was supposed to be a minor mission from Koenma. Boton begged me and my twin, Ariel, to intervene so we did. Too bad she wasn't smart enough to do it while my twin was gone." Explained Ariana as she continued to run her fingers over Hiei's cheek.

Hiei just closed his eyes. Even if he could trust that this strange person was telling the truth, It was too much to take in all at once. He knew that even if she had ordered the attack that Kuwabara would not have been her target. The human's honor code had probably brought him into the battle with as badly outnumbered as Yusuke would have been. The goal of such an attack could not have been to kill Yusuke for Mukuro's army together would have been beyond overkill unless goal was to capture the Detective. But who had given that information to Mukuro? That information would have had to come from Koenma, but even if he had told Mukuro, Mukuro wouldn't have believed him. She would have sent people to look for him and any response wouldn't have come for at least another week. Who could get such a quick reaction from Mukuro and what was it that person told her?

When Ariana continued, he opened his eyes but she didn't say much more.

"There's more but I think it can wait for later. I think what you need right now is some more sleep. Besides I need to go deal with more of Koenma's stupidity.

When Yusuke came to, sometime had passed and he had no idea where he was. His arms were still bound behind his back and he could feel cold metal chains on his ankles. He opened his eyes but only saw darkness. He thought that he was being carried in some fashion because there were frequent jolts that would send excruciating waves of pain through his heavily injured body. He could hear muted voices that he could not and felt that he did not want to understand. He could not put names to the voices and part of him hoped that one day he'd be able to forget them because he knew what those voiced would be saying in his nightmares.

What seemed to be several hours later, the jolting suddenly stopped. Soon after a new voice seemed to join the others and though he recognized the voice, he could not understand what the voice said. He knew that voice belonged to Mukuro who was one of his fellow demon lords. At this point in time Yusuke's best hope was for Mukuro to realize that her soldiers had tortured, raped, and captured one of her heir's allies, because then she would free him and harshly punish the ones whose orders had caused all of this to happen. At least that's what he thought and hoped would happen.

Then Mukuro came closer and Yusuke's stomach clenched when he could suddenly understand what Mukuro was saying. She would not be coming to his rescue. She had been the one to give the orders.

"Throw him in the dungeon." Ordered Mukuro in a cold voice. "That'll show Koenma that not even he can get away with what he's done to my heir."

Seconds later, Yusuke heard the sound of wood scraping against wood and then there was a jolt much larger then any of the ones that had come before it. Yusuke's head banged against the surface that he lay on causing him to lose consciousness for the second time since his capture.


	4. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Kurama was pacing. Pacing because he couldn't sit still for a moment and hadn't been able to since he had received that damned toddler's letter the day before. Youko was furious about what had happened to Hiei and Yusuke, but when Shizuru had come over and told him what had happened to her younger brother it had far surpassed mere fury. Youko wanted revenge and he did not want to and would not wait one more second then he had to

Kurama's mind had become a war whose wins and losses could clearly be seen in the appearance of his body. The major battlefields of that war seemed to be the hair, eyes, and ears. The hair was still mostly red, but strands and clumps of much longer, silvery white hair could be seen throughout it. One ear was human, but the other was that of a fox even if the short silver fur that covered it did have a few red furs among them. It was the eyes whose battle that was closest to being lost. They were almost entirely gold, with only a handful of microscopic green flecks between the two of them. It was a battle that Kurama knew he would lose especially after almost two days with absolutely no sleep. Youko had reserves that Kurama's human body couldn't hope to match at the best of times and if he so desired could multiply those reserves by thousands. In short, it was a miracle that Youko hadn't already brought this battle to its forgone conclusion.

Hours passed slowly as the battle was waged. Kurama's head began to pound with a fierce headache that bordered on being a migraine, making concentrating hard and painful. Each time the pain distracted him Youko took full advantage of it, forcing more and more of the eventual transformation. Even before the transformation had been completed and Youko Kurama in all his four-tailed glory stood in the bedroom of the human whose body he shared the battle was already over.

As much as Youko Kurama cared for his host, he felt he that the other had been far too influenced by his human mother and that those human ideals he had learned from her were currently in the way. Right now, Youko had things to do, favors to call in, and plans to make and all of them would start with a little known interdimensional portal in an area of the Makai that saw little traffic.

Mukuro watched as a young, mostly human looking, girl blasted her way through her elite guard with such ease that she could not possibly be human. She had no idea who the girl was or what she was but Mukuro was sure that she'd never before sensed energy like what this girl radiated. Everything about her except for that one thing seemed completely normal to one who inhabited the Makai. Her appearances, the long, purple hair, ice-blue eyes, and long furry, yet slender tail. The clothes, simple black jeans and a halter-top with bold white letters that said 'Princess' in the most common dialect of the Makai, even the black boots. These things were all normal. The abnormal thing was the expression on her face. The way she took joy in each and every demon she killed as though causing others pain and killing them were drugs that she was addicted to. The overall effect was intimidating, even to the Demon Lord Mukuro.

The girl began toward Mukuro as if only just realizing who she was. The time she spent on the demons separating the two of them was shorter and shorter till the last few soldiers were killed when their necks were simply snapped.

When she stood in front of Mukuro she spoke to the powerful Demon Lord in a demanding, self assured voice. "I suggest you hand Yusuke over. Now."

"Who are you to demand anything at all from me?" asked Mukuro, her voice full of every bit of authority and power that had helped her conquer a third of Makai.

"I am greatly disappointed that one of your rank has not heard of me. I'll have to fix that. The name is Ariel, second born daughter of the Saiyan Crown Prince Vegeta. My twin, Ariana, and I are the ones who get called in when things go so wrong that not even all the SDF can handle it." The smirk on Ariana's face was quite smug and proud.

Mukuro took an involuntary step back as she realized who it was who had killed so many of her people. Everything added up. The fact that the girl radiated such an unknown power, the heritage she claimed and seemed to take so much pride in. Even the smirk she wore on her face that so reminded Mukuro of her heir even if there were many subtle differences between those two smirks. She decided to hide her apprehension behind the emotionless mask that she had perfected long ago and to above that mask pretend that the entire situation was laughable.

"And you expect me to believe that. You are relying on pathetic, often copied threats thinking I'll be impressed and have failed because I am not the least bit impressed by you."

Ariel rolled her eyes at the Demon Lord.

"I didn't want to do this cause I know that I'll be forced to come back and clean up the damned mess it'll leave behind. Damn you bitch. You are going to be making me work even after your soul gets thrown into the depths of hell."

Mukuro was falling to the ground before she realized that anything at all had happened.

The world began to fade, colors fading and blending together as the world went black. She knew she had to be bleeding but she didn't know what part of her was doing that bleeding. Numbness and shock hadn't even begun to fade before she died. She never did realize that the cause of her death was that her head had been ripped right off of her body.

Ariel walked past Mukuro's remains as though they meant nothing and they did mean nothing to the Saiyan princess. Nothing but a predictor of more work to come when word of the death of this one person combined with the disappearances of Yusuke and Hiei spread wide enough and chaos descended on the little patch of Makai that Reikei had anything resembling control over.

Ariel continued on her way, following the elusive trail of ki that had led her to this pathetic excuse for a castle. She encountered a great many soldiers but they were almost too weak to bother with as they scrambled over each other in their attempts to get out of her way. They were entirely too pathetic to be allowed to live. So she killed them. The trail came to an end in the last of a long hallway of dimly lit cells in one of the deeper parts of the dungeon.

Chained to the wall of the cell was the one that she had come for. This was her new pet, Yusuke. He was covered from head to toe with dark bruises, scrapes and deep cuts. What was left of his clothes were dirty, blood stained rags that barely managed to suggest that they had once covered anything at all. His black hair that Ariana had seen slicked back with gel in pictures and on Koenma's wall monitor was messy and had not a little dried blood in it. Blood that had dried to various parts of Yusuke's body, especially the insides of his legs, had formed a trail leading to a not so small puddle of half-dried blood on the dirty and blood-stained floor that his chains kept him above. His chocolate brown eyes were filled with the strangest mixture of pain, anger, and fear. It was a look that excited Ariel.

Ariel walked up to him and with precise ki-blasts broke the shackles that held him to the wall and watched as he fell to the cold bloodstained ground. She healed his wounds, completely ignoring his reactions until those reactions began to annoy her. Then she knocked him out with precise pressure to a key nerve. She'd liked the fear and the pain but the out and out panicking had been beyond too much. The rest of the injuries faded away into nothingness, leaving her with nothing but a desire to see that pale skin once again marred, except this time she would be the one doing it.

She picked up the unconscious ex-Reikei Tentei and exited the castle by way of ki-blasting a whole trough every part of the castle between her and the open sky. Her destination when she took off flying was a small clearing with a hot spring near her favorite portal to Reikei. She placed him on the ground and retrieved a bookbag she had placed there on her way to Mukuro's castle. All it contained was a set of clothes for her new pet, some stuff to wash him off with and something very special she would be using after she got all the blood and other gunk off of him. She waited, merely because the results of carrying a naked Tentei through the halls of Reikei where one of his friends from his old life might attempt to rescue him just wasn't worth the hassle. After all, she had only just begun to think of the multitude of things she could do to hear what was sure to be the delightful sound of her new pet screaming in agony or pleading for mercy once she'd managed to break him. After that she had yet to decide if she'd just put him out of his misery or give him to her twin so she could watch the weak-hearted fool's attempts to put him back together. Either would be delightful options and there was always the possibility of combining the two and killing him in front of her twin. Ariana waited for Yusuke to wake with an evil smile of joy on her face.

Hiei didn't remember when he had fallen asleep, but he knew that he had when he once again woke up under the covers of that same bed. This time when he looked around the room really was empty and he got a good look at what was in the room. A messy desk with an expensive looking computer was between two identical doors and an oversized dresser sat next to a door that matched the other two.

This time when he went to get out of bed no one stopped him. His first priority was to find something to wear. After that would be finding a weapon and then escaping from Reikei.

The first door he tried was the bathroom. It was a nice, large bathroom, but not what he was looking for. The next door was the front room. He got a glimpse of Ariana sprawled out on a couch reading a book and wearing jeans and a t-shirt. He shut that door as quickly as he could but it wasn't fast enough.

Ariana hadn't even looked up from her book, when she began to speak, then as she spoke she placed a bookmark in the book and placed it on the floor next to the couch.

"Come here, Hiei." Ordered Ariana.

Even though instinct told Hiei that it was a bad idea, he finished closing the door and took a few steps back. He had no idea what to do but he knew that he didn't want to go out there like he was. She would make him feel vulnerable and that was the last thing that he wanted.

Scarcely a moment had passed before the door opened and Ariana stepped through it.

"I never figured that you'd be the shy type. Guess I was wrong." Her voice was soft, but Hiei took another step back as she took a step toward him. When she took another step he also took another step and felt the bed against the back of his legs. She had him cornered and he hated it. Being cornered always brought back bad memories.

She pulled him against her and began running a hand up and down his back. It was everything he could do to keep from tensing up. He knew it would do no good. There was nothing he could do.

Hiei did tense when he felt her lips on his neck. A bit of tongue and he couldn't keep from trembling. His heart was racing in his chest. He was afraid. So very afraid in that moment. She could so easily kill him. He tried to push her away but she ignored his attempt as though it had been barely felt.

"Please...stop." He whispered it, barely managing to keep it from sounding like the plea that it was.

She stopped, but didn't pull away. He could feel her smile against the skin of his neck and when she spoke he could feel the movement of her lips. Her breath was warm against the sensitive skin of his neck.

"So nervous." She whispered softly. "Why don't we get you something to wear and then we'll talk. Ok?"

Hiei nodded, knowing that this was going to be the best he was going to get.

"Wait here. I'll be back in a minute."

She said it simply as though it were nothing but Hiei knew exactly what it was. She was ordering him around as casually as one might give orders to a pet. That's what his mind said, but his instinct wasn't so sure that it was that at all.

Ariana walked away, opening the one door that Hiei had not touched and entering a cavernous walk in closet. It was less then a minute later when she reappeared with a pair of black jeans, what appeared to be wards for his arms, a white headband for his jagan, a white belt like those that he normally wore, and a small box that looked quite old and as if it had seen better days.

Hiei watched as she placed everything on the bed before picking up the old box and opening it. She took out an intricate armband crafted out of materials that Hiei could not even begin to identify. Part of him wondered if Kurama could, if the Fox could live up to his reputation as a thief in identifying what any object was made of, no matter how good the forgery had been.

The armband was composed of three braided strands, each one being a different color. Those colors were red, blue, and purple.

This time when she approached him he did not back away. That would have been beyond pointless and he knew it. Knew it because of the way his mind kept screaming that he should be afraid and because he could not stop trembling.

The feel of her hand on his arm made him jump. He'd been too wrapped up in thought to really pay attention to what she had been doing. Under normal circumstances, he'd have been too on guard for such a thing to happen and yet here when he should have been a hundred percent on guard it had happened. It made him wonder how this strange person could evoke such a strange combination of fear, nervousness, and trust in him.

"I almost forgot about this. Actually, I did forget about it till I saw it in the closet. So we will do this and then you will get dressed and then we will have that talk."

The metal of the armlet felt cold against his skin as she slid up his arm to a position halfway between the bend of his elbow and his armpit. The tiny amount of her own energy that she fed into it seemed to do nothing at first, but a few seconds later when she held him against herself again it felt different somehow and Hiei was not sure whether that difference was a good one or a bad one.

He didn't even think about the pair of pants on the bed until some time later when he heard a door in the room Ariana had come from being broken down. When he heard that he had immediately scanned his vicinity with his jagan. Youko Kurama was here and the fox had brought someone who was not only several times more powerful as Ariana, but the same species as her too.

"Why don't you get dressed while I go deal with your friend and my father. I do wonder how the two of them ever met." Said Ariana. A moment later she was in the other room after firmly closing the bedroom door behind her.

In Ariana's front room stood two people. One she knew quite well the other one she had seen only in pictures and on Koenma's wall monitor. The later seemed to be in for a surprise.

Vegeta was a man who would never be considered tall, unless he was being compared to a midget or others who were just plain abnormally short. His spiky black hair bore a passing resemblance to that of Hiei, as did the smirk he wore. The blue spandex outfit, however; was probably something the Koorime hybrid wouldn't be caught dead in.

Youko Kurama on the other hand was most definantly tall. She wasn't sure how tall, but she was sure he was at least six feet tall, making his beyond waist length, silvery white hair all the more impressive a site. The two fox ears atop his head blended almost perfectly with the hair and she knew that if she saw the youko's four tails they would be a perfect match as well. The flowing white garment however was not a match. His golden eyes were narrowed and almost glowing with the angry power that he emanated. Ariana knew exactly why he had come and that his attempt, even though he had no way to know it yet was completely and utterly pointless.

Ariana decided she should deal with her father first so that Youko Kurama would see the futility of his plans before Hiei made his appearance.

"Hello, Father. It's been quite a long time and while I am quite glad to see you I'd be much more if you hadn't broken down the door to get in. I would have answered if you had knocked." Said Ariana.

"He did that part." Said Vegeta, easily casting the blame for the broken door at the kitsune's feet. "As for the time that has passed since we saw each other last, I didn't even know there was a portal between the two dimensions till he came through to call in an old favor."

"I'm guessing that he wants his friends back. I'm also guessing that he didn't know what Koenma really has been up to lately. Do you know Youko? Or is the only information you have from that threat Koenma forced Boton to take to you?" said Ariana.

"I fail to see why that damned toddler's actions have any bearing in me correcting the wrongs that have been committed against my allies." Said Youko Kurama.

Ariana rolled her eyes at the silver kitsune, showing him exactly what she thought of his 'famed' intelligence.

"That's only because you don't know. So I'll tell you what I've already told Hiei. Immediately after Boton returned from taking that threat to you, a threat I've personally forced Koenma to rescind, she came right to this very room where my twin and I were having a conversation and begged for us to intervene, because what Koenma really had done was set both Yusuke and Hiei up to be executed. It is only by a fluke that Hiei survived nearly being killed by a miko and that Mukuro was so upset by news of Hiei's disappearance and who had caused that disappearance that she sent her people out with orders to capture Yusuke instead of killing him. Kuwabara, well he got caught in the crossfire and Koenma is too mad at how his precious plan failed to give a damn about anyone who got hurt. So in short Hiei is going to be staying with me and Yusuke, well, he'll be with my twin sister, Ariel till I can sort that part of the mess out."

"You really expect me to believe that nonsense?" asked Youko Kurama.

"Believe it or don't, but check your sources next time your in the Makai. I'm pretty sure that by now, knowing my twin the way I do, that Mukuro is dead. Her territory descending slowly into chaos along with Yusuke's unless the monks there are hellaciously good at keeping order. Yomi probably has all his people on high alert, wondering if everything he's hearing is nothing but people spreading lies and rumor as truth or if he can take advantage of it and conquer the other two territories before things become so chaotic that it would be impossible. The current worst case scenario is that the new chaos in Mukuro's territory will lead to rampant chaos throughout that level of the Makai, extending even to those areas that had not fallen under the control of any of the Demon Lords. And to think that because of Koenma's irrational fears and his petty prejudices that every bit of work that anyone has ever done to bring anything resembling stability to the Makai might simply be wiped away as though none of it had ever happened." Ariana knew that she had gone with one of the more extreme worst case scenarios after the part that her twin sister played a role in but she felt that Youko Kurama needed to be shocked back into reality.

Youko Kurama's four tails began to twitch back and fourth as he absorbed the information that he had been given, his face taking on a look of concentration instead of the anger that had previously been there. His attention immediately shifted to the bedroom door when it opened to reveal Hiei. He took a step toward Hiei, but even before he moved Ariana was at his friend's side. One look at Vegeta and even Yoko Kurama had to agree that the man would do nothing to free his friends, especially because it was from his own daughters. His human half was yelling at him that he'd been stupid and endangered the lives of their friends, family, completely forgetting that they had been told that the threat had been rescinded.

Youko Kurama's presence there had been pointless and stupid on so many levels that he wasn't going to attempt to count them all. He'd pulled in the one favor he'd been saving for a worst case scenario and wasted it. It was time for him to leave so he left. He just hoped that someday, Hiei would understand.

Ariana introduced Hiei to Vegeta, before gently steering the Koorime hybrid toward the coach. She knew that her father did not exactly approve of her choice but this was something she could not and would not change even if she could back away from this. She and Vegeta talked for hours about all that had happened since that had last seen each other. People, places, events, and times till all seemed to blur together for Hiei. Those things didn't matter to him half as much as how Ariana had managed to coax him into lying on the coach with his head in her lap while she ran a hand over his stomach. Or even why he felt so relaxed that he was half-asleep and couldn't seem to concentrate on anything that should actually matter. He knew he should be wondering why Kurama had let Youko Kurama out and why Youko Kurama had come so obviously expecting to fight and then left as though he had given up before the real fight had even begun. Hiei was beginning to get a headache.

By the time that Vegeta left, with a promise to return the next day, Hiei was so close to asleep that he barely registered the man leaving. It was one thing among many that he would berate himself for later when he was awake enough to actually think about all that had happened to him and would happen to him on this day.


	5. Chapter Four

Chapter Four

As Kurama exited the Reikai castle he noticed an envelope on the floor. He picked it up and despite the fact that it was addressed to Koenma's father the King of Reikei by a person, who didn't even know the right name, read the letter inside.

To: Prince Koenma's bastard of a father

Give up the twins or say goodbye to Earth

From: Lord Freiza

Kurama threw it to the ground. He had never heard of this Freiza person. And he only knew one of the twins that the note seemed to refer to. He threw the letter back on to the ground, not caring in the least where it landed.

He returned to the Ningenkai. Once there he went to Genkai's temple to tell her the bad news. As he walked to the temple, he tried to find a way to break the news to Genkai. He never made it to the temple. Never even saw the normal human who had struck him over the head with a baseball bat or sensed the shard of the Shikon no Tama that had been used to control that human.

Ariel watched as Yusuke slowly woke up. She smirked when he suddenly turned his head turned toward her and his chocolate-brown eyes snapped open. She frowned a split-second later when he quickly got to his feet and began backing away from her. Using a bit of speed she got behind him. It took him a moment to find where she had gone. He quickly turned around and started to back away again but was stopped. He tried to speak, but words failed him. He was all but frozen with fear. She was fast and powerful. So very powerful that it boggled his mind that one short body could hold so much power. She reached out and gently touched his cheek. His eyes widened in shock as the hand worked its way behind his head and Ariel's other hand did the same thing on the other side of his face. Then she suddenly dropped both arms and said, "Follow me."

He didn't know why he followed. He wanted so desperately to run away. To be anywhere but where she was leading him. His feet would not obey his commands and he kept following the short, powerful girl. She led him to a small hot-spring where she forced him into the water. She undressed and got in behind him. His still trembling body tensed as she ran her hands over his body to get the blood, dirt, and the nearly non-existent tatters of clothing off him.

Bit by bit, Yusuke's fear angered Ariel. She could smell it. It rolled off him in waves that seemed to intensify by the second. At lower levels it had excited her but right now it just angered her.

"Even after I healed every wound on your body, down to the smallest scratch, do you really think I'd hurt you now. My father taught me to treat my property better then that." 'At least not without giving them some kind of pleasure even if they don't like the brand of pleasure they are being given.' But she wisely kept that thought to herself.

Yusuke's response was to look away. He didn't want her to see the answer in his eyes. Of course she would hurt him, that's what the powerful always did to the weak. Wasn't it? She moved her hands to where they rested in the small of his back and pulled him closer. The tip of her tail began working its way up and down the backs of his legs. The fear inside Yusuke changed to panic. He wanted to get away from this girl who held him captive against his will. He brought up a hand and tried to push her away. When she frowned in anger at that action he almost panicked, but the expression on her face only lasted a moment before it turned into a small smirk.

Then he felt something at the edge of his mind and a second later his mind was being flooded with images. The pictures came with information. Within seconds he knew exactly what he was to her, what she wanted from him and many of the methods she could use to enforce her will. That wasn't the only thing that happened in those short moments. He also learned the purpose of the tattoo that she had placed on his left arm while she had waited for him to wake. It was the symbol of a contract that Ariel had made with her soul. The contract being that she would own him forever, that she would give her life if necessary to keep anyone else from hurting him or taking him away from her. There was a distinct emphasis on the 'any one else' part that Yusuke didn't like. He had the distinct feeling that there would be much that he would not like and even much that he out right hated as long as this girl held him captive.

The shock of that realization hit hard. Yusuke sagged into Ariel's embrace. Too shocked to even tremble in fear. He tried to regain his footing but his legs were weak. He hated being weak.

A moment later when Yusuke was back on his feet, Ariel grabbed his hand and led him from the hot spring and to the place where she had set down her backpack and handed him the clothes it contained. While he dressed she retrieved her clothes and put them on.

When she turned back to Yusuke, he was sitting on the ground with his back against a tree and wearing black jeans and a blood-red muscle shirt. The trembling had stopped. He stood as she approached, but did not look at her. She stopped walking when she stood in front of him. It took everything in him to keep from trembling. He didn't notice when she came to a stop in front of him until she grabbed his arms. He had been staring at his feet and the unexpected contact surprised him. He jumped and Ariel released her hold on his arms.

For a long moment Yusuke just stood there, staring at his feet and breathing hard. Using a bit of ki, Ariel began to hover a few inches off the ground. She kissed Yusuke ever so lightly on the lips that for a moment he thought that he had imagined it. Then while he was still thinking about the kiss, Ariel picked him up and took off into the sky.

Yusuke yelped and clutched Ariel's neck in fear. Ariel looped her tail around his ankle and began to purr. A moment later he calmed down enough to stop. He didn't trust her, but at the altitude they were flying at there was nothing that he could do about it. He knew that she had only made the attempt to calm him because she found the clutching at her neck thing to be extremely annoying. How he knew that he didn't know but he knew it none the less.

As they flew the short distance to the Reikai Castle, Ariel kept stealing glances at Yusuke. He looked so cute when he wasn't glaring at her in anger. A moment later and after some thought she reconsidered. He looked his cutest when he was angry and she wondered if he would look even cuter if he were in pain. She thought back to when she had first seen him and came to the decision that pain was the much better look as far as she was concerned.

Yusuke just stayed quiet during the flight. Not wanting to anger Ariel any more then he had. He didn't want to deal with it or anything that had happened to him recently. He wondered if Hiei would accuse him of being a coward if the Koorime hybrid ever found out. He wondered if either Hiei or even Kurama would make an appearance and end up being slaughtered by Ariel. He began to wonder if his only way out was death and how much more he could take before being driven to take his own life just to stop the pain and humiliation he had already suffered and knew he was going to suffer in the future.

After almost two hours of flying at about half speed, Ariel landed on the balcony that led to the apartment that she shared with her identical twin sister Ariana. She could sense that Ariana and her pet Hiei were in the shower. She put Yusuke down and led him to the bathroom. She really didn't care that her sister was taking a shower with someone who had to be her new pet, Hiei. They were twins after all.


	6. Chapter Five

Chapter Five

Ariana and Hiei were just getting out of the shower when Ariel all but dragged Yusuke into the bathroom. Even after what he had been through so recently Yusuke still blushed at seeing his captor's twin and Hiei naked. Hiei glared at Ariel, but it was a glare that Yusuke had only seen the Koorime hybrid use when he was either extremely nervous of felt cornered in some way. Yusuke was sure that only he saw Hiei's surprise at his own appearance and the anger at what had obviously happened to him in those crimson eyes.

Ariel walked around Hiei, looking him over as though he were a piece of cattle she was interested in buying, buying and probably torturing. Hiei's glare switched up a couple of notches and he seemed to want to do something to Ariel, but he was holding himself back.

"Get away from him, Ariel. He isn't yours." Said Ariana as she placed herself firmly between Hiei and her twin.

"My, my. Aren't you being the selfish one." Said Ariel in a rather disapproving tone of voice.

"Only because I know exactly what you'd do to him if I gave you half a chance. So I'm not going to take any chances, dear sister." Said Ariana.

Ariel backed down, but even Yusuke could see that she didn't like being forced to back down by her own twin.

Ariana turned around as though the matter had been settled and grabbed a large, fluffy towel off of a shelf near the shower and wrapped it around Hiei. Yusuke didn't see anymore of what happened in the bathroom because Ariel dragged him back out and into a bedroom.

A few moments later when Ariana and Hiei entered the bedroom Ariana was wearing plain, purple silk pajamas and Hiei was wearing black pajama bottoms.

"A lot has happened while you were gone, dear sister. Father was here in this very dimension. He says he'll be back tomorrow." Began Ariana. She followed it up by telling her about all that she had heard from their father. Neither Yusuke nor Hiei took an interest, merely sitting on the bed next to each other. They didn't do much till a stray comment from Ariel caught the full attention of both of them.

"Don't you think it would look oh so cute if Yusuke and Hiei were together with Hiei on the bottom?"

"Yeah it would be cute, but I am not going to force Hiei into anything like that. You might enjoy such things but I loathe them, dear sister. I will not behave like that damned, monstrous bastard who made our childhood a living hell." Said Ariana.

"Sometimes, sister, I have trouble believing that we are even related to each other." Said Ariel.

"Join the club, dear sister. I can't believe that I'm related to you most of the time." Said Ariana.

Hiei lay a hand on top of Yusuke's effectively gaining the taller one's attention without him having to say anything.

"What have they done to you, Detective?" asked Hiei softly, using telepathy so they would not be overheard. He knew that while Yusuke himself was not a telepath that the jagan eye and his own natural ability would more then make up for what the other lacked in telepathy.

Yusuke's response was a startled glance in Hiei's direction. Part of him wanted to answer his friend's question but it was just too soon. He felt Hiei actually enter his mind, a soft presence especially when compared to the harsh tidal wave that his captor, Yusuke didn't like even thinking her name, had forced him to endure. Yusuke wanted him out, not wanting Hiei to know what had happened fearing that the other would reject him and end their friendship. That thought frightened him. Yusuke knew that Hiei would look and that even if he knew how he would not try to stop him. Hiei had earned that privilege, but he didn't want to lose the one friend, the one consistent thing he'd managed to find again since that fateful battle for such a small artifact had turned his entire world upside down in ways he'd never even considered possible.

Yusuke felt Hiei begin to look at the memories of what had happened and how the hybrid kept him from seeing what he was looking at and was just grateful that he would not have to relive all that to satisfy Hiei's curiosity. He knew it wouldn't be long before Hiei pulled away, disgusted by what Yusuke had surely become.

It didn't happen

Instead, Hiei's warm presence seemed to wrap itself around him like a hug that was comforting in ways one in the physical world could not be.

"What has happened to you was not your fault, Yusuke. All that it means is that the bastards who hurt you shall have to be made to suffer before they die. All guilt lies with them, because it was all against your will. It will be the same with anything that that bitch does to you. Do not think that it taints you, for in this you are completely innocent." For Hiei, even though he tended to be a wee bit more talkative then usual when he communicated telepathically, it was practically a speech and Yusuke got no chance to reply before Ariel dragged him off the bed with an angry expression on her face.

Before he was out of the room, Yusuke thought out his reply to Hiei, knowing that the jaganshi was listening for it.

"Thanks Hiei. You don't know how much that it means to me to hear you say that."

Ariana sat beside Hiei on the other side from where Yusuke had sat. He tensed when she placed an arm around him, but did nothing more when she pulled him into her side.

"I will do what I can to see that Yusuke spends as little time in my twin's care as possible, Hiei, but it is a fight I will not start till I am sure I can win. It will do neither you nor he any good to both wind up victim my sister's not so tender mercies. " It was here that Ariana paused for a second. "If you are ever in a room with here and I am not present it would be for the best that you do not provoke her. It is a battle that you would not win." After she said the last word, she pulled Hiei against her just a bit more tightly.

It was a long moment before Hiei spoke, his voice was low but it contained every bit of distrust he could muster against Ariana.

"Why would you do that? Why would you even care?"

Ariana pulled back enough that she could look into Hiei's crimson eyes when she answered him.

"Because every last bit of who and what you are belongs to me and will be till the moment I die and to me that means very different things then it does to my sister. But it's been a long day for both of us, and while I know I said we'd talk more today, it shall have to be put off till tomorrow."

Ariana pulled back the covers and scooted under them, motioning for Hiei to join her. Hiei obeyed the nonverbal command but was careful to leave as much space as possible between himself and Ariana. It did him no good. She just moved over and then pulled him to the center of the bed before pulling the covers over both of them. Hiei tensed when she wrapped her arms around him and he tried to get away but she did not let go. Instead she began to purr as a feline would and stroked his back until he fell asleep

About six hours later Hiei awoke to the student beeping of Ariana's alarm clock. Ariana reached over him and turned it off. Hiei opened his eyes slowly. He could feel Ariana's body pressed against his. He didn't like it.

Pure instinct caused Hiei to try to flit away but Ariana merely tightened her hold on the fire apparition and Hiei didn't get so much as half an inch away.

"I don't like to be held." As he glared at Ariana.

"You could have fooled me as peacefully as you were sleeping last night and after what happened yesterday." Said Ariana.

Hiei opened his mouth to challenge her claim but decided against and closed his mouth without so much as his trademark 'Hn.'

"Or perhaps you are really lying to yourself." Said Ariana contemplatively. "Either way it's time to get up, Hiei-chan."

It was the last part of that statement that had Hiei glaring at her.

Not too long later Hiei, Yusuke, Ariana, and Ariel were sitting around a small table eating breakfast. Yusuke and Hiei kept glancing over at their captors as they ate. They had never seen anyone eat so much in their entire lives. The meal went fast.

Hiei studied Yusuke a bit during that meal. The Detective looked as though he hadn't gotten much sleep and his movements were stiff. All evidence pointed to Ariel having done something in the night. Hiei hide his disapproval, but Ariana did not. It had been clear the moment she had seen Yusuke when they had entered the kitchen with it's little table that seemed as though it was meant to be cozy. It was not cozy.

When the meal was complete Ariana gathered the plates and pots and pans together and putting them all in the dishwasher and turning it on. Ariel took the opportunity to glare at Hiei, but Ariana, as though she knew exactly what her twin sister was doing, said, "Stop that dear sister. You've no reason to be angry with Hiei. Besides, what ever would Father think if he knew the way you were treating Yusuke. To think that you would deliberately act like Frieza. Father will be terribly, furiously upset at what you have done to the poor man."

"That was a low blow, dear sister." Replied Ariel.

"And you know you deserved it." Said Ariana. "I never go for the low blow when it is undeserved and yet with you it always ends up that way. I wish I could say truthfully that I wondered why that is true."

The result of that small argument was Ariel once more storming out of the room and dragging Yusuke behind her.

When Ariana again face the room, Hiei was looking at the door that her sister had dragged his friend through. He didn't seem to notice when she walked up behind him until she placed a hand on his shoulder. He tensed, nearly jumping in surprise.

"He's strong. I think he'll manage until I get him away from Ariel." Said Ariana.

"No. No he's not. Yusuke can't take much more of that. He'll break and never be as strong again." The words were spoken softly, startling even Hiei with how much had been said.

"That could be true but I do believe that your little chat with him last night helped more then you think. Besides there is something else that will effect that that Koenma has been keeping from everyone. It is, I fear, the real reason that everything has ended up the way that it has."

With that statement Ariana had Hiei's full and undivided attention. She could not see his eyes because she stood behind him, but she knew his mind would not be elsewhere.

"About two weeks ago, Koenma decided to take a look at both your and Yusuke's complete Reikei files. As in the ones so complete that if they were not in the new computerized systems would take an entire room full of filing cabinets for so much as a single week of your lives. This I know because I'd set up the computer system to alert me if he did that. There was another alert set up if he actually looked to see if either of you had soul mates. He did."

It was at this point that Hiei stood up and spun around to face Ariana, his crimson eyes wide with shock.

"That damned Toddler did all of this because..." He began, but he stopped when a look of awareness began to fill his crimson eyes. "Yusuke." He said it, as though, the thought had never crossed his mind before and that now that it had he was wondering why he had not thought it before.

"Koenma feared what would happen when the both of you ruled in Makai and both territories would essentially be one. I had thought that the most he would do is fire Yusuke and forbid the two of you from entering the Ningenkai again. I was wrong."

After a long moment, Hiei managed to control his emotions and begin to think through what he'd just been told.

"But why is it that you knew that information?" asked Hiei. He needed to know why this woman had sought out information so personal to him.

"Because I've a bit of an eye for those with untapped power. You, even now when you have achieved an S Superior rank, still have enough untapped power to make your current level appear even weaker then that of an E inferior. I sensed that potential and hacked into the Reikei database to learn more. I'd say that was about the time you first met Kurama in his current form." Said Ariana, a small smile on her face. "Yusuke is one of the few others in this dimension with any real potential. If things go as I foresee, I can all but guarantee that by the time I die of old age and you and he outlive me that both of you will be powerful enough that even Enma will not want to mess with either of you ever again."

Hiei wanted to disbelieve everything that Ariana had said but too much from the day before had been corroborated and too much of what she had said today had made sense. It was too much, simply too much and yet it was also not enough. He did not know what to do or even what to say. He wasn't even sure he could stay on his feet much longer.

For the second time that day he did not notice Ariana moving until she touched him, pulling him against her body as though she knew his knees were about to give way at any moment.

She sat in the chair he had been sitting in, pulling him down onto her lap so that he straddled her legs. Her hand slid under the sleeve of the black t-shirt he wore and slid over where the armband had been the previous day even as the other hand slid beneath his shirt and began to caress his side, just below his ribcage. A small part of his mind wondered where it had disappeared to because he had no memory of it being removed.

It was all very distracting but Hiei could not bring himself to say anything. Part of him wanted it and it did scare him a bit that she could make him crave her touch.


	7. Chapter Six

Chapter Six

With the distraction that Ariana posed it took Hiei quite a long time to think through everything that had happened and all that he had been told. At first his situation had seemed harsh and unfair, but in reality it was a lot better then many things he'd suffered through in the past. She was offering him a huge power boost and a chance for what could be true love and for that kind of power she was asking for a startlingly small amount in return. In the Makai such an offer would lead to centuries if not millennia of slavery and that slavery would only end when one grew powerful enough to escape it through necessity alone.

Hiei had no idea why he believed her or why his instinct was screaming that he should. Hiei's mind screamed that he should be very, very afraid but instinct over-rode his mind and instead he found himself trusting.

Barely a second later a revelation struck him with the force a freight train. The exact reason why his mind and his instinct seemed to be at war with each other. Before all of this he had been expecting to become a leader and now he had in fact been downgraded from top general and chosen heir of a demon lord to a position that in essence was that of a pet. Instinct had no problem with becoming a follower to one so powerful if it would lead to himself becoming so much more powerful. Instinct cared more about being able to protect oneself and those few who actually mattered. It cared very little for one's dignity.

It was almost an imperceptibly small motion but it caused so very much as he leaned against Ariana just the tiniest bit. This time the feel of her lips on his neck brought no negative reactions merely causing him to tilt his head to give her better access.

For a split second, she seemed to be as still as a statue as though she could not believe that he had given in so very easily and actually in a way had acknowledged that he was hers to control. Or that he would acknowledge her claim of ownership over him. After that split second, she smiled against his neck.

The hand on his side moved up, brushing ever so lightly across his skin and then across his left nipple. Hiei drew a sharp breath at the sensation. He knew exactly what she wanted to do and had not a single objection.

Her other hand came to rest on his inside of his right thigh near enough to his groin to tease but not enough to touch it even through the pants that Hiei wore. It stayed there for a long moment, then moved to his right side, exactly opposite of where the other hand had been before she had moved it. The other hand went back to that place as her tongue traced a long line down his neck, ending at his collarbone. He shuddered when her tongue followed the line of his collarbone and couldn't help but make a slight sound when she reached the hollow of his throat. She gently kissed that spot, hands now running ever so slowly along the inside of his thighs, always stopping before actually touching anything and the more she avoided it the more he wanted it.

They never got the chance for more.

Ariana groaned internally a split second before it happened. Ariel burst into the kitchen without Yusuke, eyes immediately landing on her twin sister with a slightly desperate look. She didn't have to say anything because Ariana knew that look and what it meant. Her twin had hurt Yusuke beyond her own abilities to heal.

"What did you do to him, Ariel?" Asked Ariana, wrapping her arms firmly around Hiei and pulling him closer when he realized that Yusuke had been seriously injured.

"You act as though I've done something wrong, dear sister. I was just having a little fun." Said Ariel.

Ariana sighed; her sister never seemed to understand that her idea of fun was always another's idea of horror or pain.

"Because you have and you should know better." Ariana's next words were directed at Hiei. "Go to our room and wait for me there. Yusuke will be fine."

Hiei seemed reluctant but nodded even as he stood. Ariana watched him as he walked out of the kitchen, wisely giving Ariel a wide berth.

There was a knock on the newly repaired front door and a grin spread across Ariana's face.

"I suggest you go meet Father while I deal with Yusuke's injuries. Don't even bother trying to pass Hiei off as yours. Father has already met him and knows who he belongs to. Besides I doubt Yusuke will be yours for much longer when Father learns how horribly you have treated him."

Ariel stormed out of the room angrily, something she had had rather too much practice at, but Ariana knew her twin would do as she had been told.

When Ariana saw Yusuke she immediately knew what was wrong. He was curled up in the middle of the bed, naked and in the fetal position, his arms trying to hold in his stomach. He was crying as his blood rapidly soaked the bed under him. Ariel had even gagged him so that he could not scream. The only good thing was that he seemed so far in shock that he didn't feel the pain or know what was going on around him.

Ariana rushed to the bed, gently pulling Yusuke out of the fetal position so that he lay flat on his back. He didn't fight her. She couldn't even see where her sister had attempted to lessen the damage that she dad wrought. She poured her healing energy into him as quickly as she could, watching as the damage began to repair itself far more quickly then Yusuke could have healed it himself. She knew that the familiar presence that approached from behind was her Father and that he had come to see what crimes her twin sister had committed against the one she was healing.

She didn't even have to see the look on his face to know what he would do, because she could feel the anger radiating off him in waves. He left the room without saying a word. Ariana merely switched what little concentration had been spared for her father's presence to the task at hand.

He began shivering even before the fearsome wound on his stomach had closed completely. The wound was improving but her healing abilities were doing nothing for the massive amount of blood that he had lost and ended up soaked into the covers, sheets, and mattress. His body temperature was dropping dangerously low because of the amount of blood he had lost.

Yusuke wasn't really sure what had happened after he felt Ariel's blade slip into his stomach. Some things he remembered but it was by no means a complete picture of all that had happened. He remembered the pain. It had hurt more then anything else ever had. He remembered the feel of his own blood, still warm soaking into the covers around him and wondering if this was going to be his third death. He'd wanted to scream, but couldn't and he couldn't even remember why. It was so very hard to think around the pain.

Then the pain had begun to fade, replaced by a gentle warmth the likes of which he had never before felt. The more the pain faded the better that warmth felt. He wanted to know what it was. He opened his eyes, not remembering when or why he had closed them, and through a veil of tears saw someone who looked exactly like the one who had hurt him. He knew it wasn't her though, the energy she was spreading through his body being much too different and much too gentle to belong to his captor.

A short man, taller then Hiei, but still bearing more then a passing resemblance to the Koorime hybrid, when seen through tear-filled eyes, entered the room. That unknown, man stayed only for a moment before leaving with an expression of furry on his face. Ariana, he really hoped it was her and that he was not wrong, paid the man no attention, but there seemed to be a light unidentifiable difference in the energy she was using to heal him after the man left.

He wasn't sure when it started, but bit by bit it seemed like the temperature in the room was dropping. He was cold, so very cold and when his body began to shiver it sent a stab of the fading pain through him, but it was nothing compared to what it had been. He wanted to cover up with a blanket, but he knew those blankets would be wet with his own, cooling blood. He was cold but these blankets would do him no good. He wondered if she would give him a cover if he could have asked for it.

Suddenly, he was sleepy, so very sleepy that within moments it became a struggle to keep his eyes open. He didn't want to sleep, even he knew that sleeping now could lead to nothing but death and Yusuke Uremeshi was entirely too stubborn to just die.

He watched as she reached toward him and unfastened the gag. His earlier question came to mind, but staying awake was taking all of his concentration. Even thinking about asking it seemed like too much effort. She picked him up, cradling him against her as best she could. She was so very warm and that warmth reminded him of how cold he had become.

Ariana rushed through the front room to her room, ignoring the way her father was ranting at her twin sister. She had much more important things on her mind.

Hiei was at her side the moment she entered the room, his crimson gaze focused entirely on Yusuke's blood covered body. She lay him on the bed before turning to look at Hiei.

"He lost more blood then I could heal. We are going to have to warm him up as quickly as possible." She was about to continue, but for the fist time ever, Hiei interrupted her.

"I can do that." Said Hiei as he headed for the bed, stripping off his shirt. It hadn't even touched the floor before he was on the bed, pulling Yusuke's larger body as close as possible.

She watched as Yusuke's nearly violent shivering slowly stopped. As skin that had begun to loose it's color and look pale, regained its healthy color. Slowly, Yusuke wrapped himself more firmly around Hiei till it almost looked like he was using the smaller demon like a teddy bear. The air in the room was at least a good ten degrees higher then it had been and Hiei seemed to have used precious little energy to do it. It seemed that Yusuke was now in good hands. Very good hands if the worry that dominated Hiei's expression was anything to go by.

She left the room to face her father and her twin without saying anything to either Yusuke or Hiei. She had a feeling that if anyone pointed out what was happening to Yusuke it would end with all the good that Hiei had done for him being undone.

In the front room things had gone down hill. Ariel looked shaken but their father was pacing and he only paced when he was beyond furious. If there had been room for it Ariana was sure that he would have beat the holy hell out of Ariel for what she had done, but the room was entirely too small for that. Ariel had probably tried every trick in the book to placate their father, but not one of them had worked. They never worked and never would because Vegeta could see through Ariel's every lie. It was probably all of the lying that had made his so very, very furious.

Vegeta stopped pacing the moment she was in the room.

"Is he going to make it?" asked Vegeta, voice filled with the anger that Ariana knew was directed at her twin sister.

"He will, but he did come damn close to dying from blood loss. If Hiei wasn't half fire demon I'd still be in there and it'd still be very iffy." Said Ariana.

"I didn't hurt him that bad." Muttered Ariel under her breath.

"You damn near gutted him and you call that a minor injury?" asked Ariana, voice angry. "At this rate he'll be dead before you've had him forty-eight hours. I doubt it's even been twenty-four."

A single look from their father was all it took to kill the fight before it had truly started.

"I've already had this talk with your sister, but when Yusuke is free you should send him back to wherever he came from." Said Vegeta.

"I'd love to do that, Dad, but I can't. Koenma will try to kill him again and if that happens I can guarantee that it won't be a battle. Yusuke will be slaughtered as easily as if he were Raditz up against the entire Ginyu Force. It's the same reason I can't let Hiei go." Said Ariana.

"And what are you going to do? Keep them for the rest of their lives?" asked Vegeta.

"No, I'm not. Their demons and as such they will still be considered quite young when I die of old age. All I've got to do is make sure that by that time I've brought them up to a level where there is no one in this dimension that could ever hope to lay a hand on either of them. They have enough untapped power that it can be done." Said Ariana.

"How long have you had this planned?" asked Vegeta.

"Quite a while. I've had my eye on Hiei since before Koenma even knew he existed. The plans came about when I learned that not only is Koenma a homophobic bastard who hates Hiei because of his status a hybrid, but also that his greatest fear was Hiei falling in love with either Yusuke or Kurama. He feared that either would result in two thirds of the top level of the Makai being united when he should have realized that with the ties of friendship between those three that level of the Makai was already well on its way to a three way alliance." Said Ariana. "Things did not go completely as planned. If they had, Yusuke would not have ended up subject to the not so tender mercies of my dear twin sister."

"Couldn't you just get rid of this Koenma person?" asked Vegeta.

"He's the Prince of the Reikei. He wouldn't stay dead because his father, the King, would just bring him back to life." Said Ariana. "The only way I could think of to keep Koenma from killing them was to put them under my protection. I've already done it for Hiei and I plan on doing the same for Yusuke."

"You do remember what that means under our traditions?" asked Vegeta.

"Of course I do, Father. And yes I do believe that they are worth it." Said Ariana.

"Then they are yours. Just keep both of them away from your sister till she returns to her senses. If that ever happens." Said Vegeta.

"I had already planned on doing that." Said Ariana.

Just like that Vegeta's anger seemed to vanish, but Ariana knew that when the time was right that Ariel would be punished most severely for what she had done to Yusuke. Their father did not condone anyone acting like Frieza, even if that person was one of his own daughters. What had really happened was that Vegeta was storing away all of his anger for later.

"How would the two of you like to move back to our home dimension and stay with me?" asked Vegeta, even though he just had to know what the answer would be.

The instant those words were out of his mouth he had the full attention of both of his daughters.

"Of course we would, Father." Said Ariana. "I have been hoping you would ask ever since I saw you yesterday."

Ariel just said, "What she said but without the last part."

"Then we shall move the two of you there tomorrow. Today I have plans to spar with Kakarot." Said Vegeta.

"Raditz's baby brother Kakarot? Or another by the same name?" asked Ariel.

Vegeta gave her an annoyed look before he responding with, "Of course he's Raditz's brother descended from Bardock. I would not make plans to spar with someone who was not at least part Saiyan."

Ariana went back to her own room even as her father left for his own dimension.


	8. Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

Hiei didn't look up when Ariana entered the still very warm room; but then again it might not have been possible as close as Yusuke was holding him. Yusuke did react to her presence, tightening his already tight grip on the shorter demon in his arms. Hiei softly whispered something that Ariana could not make out and that tight grip eased up a bit.

She sat on the bed next to Yusuke and he buried his face in Hiei's spiky hair. He was scared, but after the recent events of the last twenty-four hours she did not blame him for his fear. She would, however; have to do something to calm him before the scent of his fear became too great. The scent of it in the air was already quite a bit stronger then she liked.

"You don't have to worry about Ariel any more, Yusuke. I made sure that she will never lay a hand on you again." Said Ariana in a soft voice.

Yusuke did not tighten his hold on Hiei, but there was suddenly a tension that had not been there before. The scent of fear in the air did not fade the slightest bit.

She leaned over Yusuke and saw that his eyes were closed, he was crying but the scent of his tears had been overpowered by that of his fear. She ran a hand through his hair, gently as a mother would do to comfort her own child and Yusuke's breath caught in his throat as though he believed that the gentle touch would soon change and he would once again be caused harm. When that did not happened his closed eyes opened in a shocked expression as he turned ever so slightly to look at her.

She leaned over him just a bit further kissing Yusuke's cheek the hand she wasn't running through her bed reached for Hiei's back and began running up and down his unusually warm skin.

"Both of you are mine and no one hurts those who belong to me without answering to me and paying a very steep price. No one will hurt you because I will not allow it to happen." Said Ariana, voice still very soft.

Yusuke began to relax bit by bit, the scent of fear also gradually fading away, as he seemed to realize that Hiei had not tensed the slightest bit at the feel of her hand on his back. He was still wrapped around Hiei like the shorter demon was a teddy bear but it was more and more like it was just about the warmth that Hiei was offering and less and less like he was clutching him in fear.

She knew what she wanted to do but refrained from doing it. Going for his neck in any way at this point would only bring back the fear. It was true Yusuke had been reborn as a mazoku and had the instincts he had inherited from Raizen but Ariana had no idea if he would understand what such a gesture meant. Perhaps all he would end up being was confused and scared. She rested her cheek on his upper arm and Yusuke shifted just a bit, drawing her attention to Hiei. She had to fight to keep a smile off her face because Yusuke had unknowingly given her a solution to a problem he had not even known existed.

Ariana would do to Hiei as she wanted to do to Yusuke, but she would go slowly. Hiei had done what she'd wanted him to do earlier, but he might be reluctant to show such submissiveness in front of Yusuke. She kissed the spot where her cheek had rested on Yusuke's arm, partly it was a silent thanks for the idea that he hadn't known he'd given her but mostly it was just because she wanted to. His body temperature was still a bit shy of what it should have been, but his body was recovering from the blood loss and beginning to raise its own temperature back to what it should be on its own.

She crawled around them on the bed, settling herself against Hiei's backside. Yusuke pulling back just a little gave her all the room she needed to do what she had come to do. She kissed the top of Hiei's head as she wound her arms around him, pulling him back against her ever so slightly and used the opportunity to smell that scent that was so uniquely Hiei's. She could describe it as nothing except possibly fire without the smell of anything being burned. In short, he smelled like the very element that dominated his abilities. That was also what he tasted like and Ariana greatly enjoyed both his scent and the way his skin had tasted under her tongue and the fact that she would taste that sweet scent again very soon.

She shifted herself just a bit down Hiei's back, rubbing her cheek against the soft skin of his neck.

Hiei had known almost exactly what was going to happen the moment that Ariana had moved from behind Yusuke and settled herself at his back. For a long moment he considered telling Yusuke what was about to happen and why, but with Ariana so close he did not know if she'd do something about it and a partial communication could possibly be more damage then the full message could possibly help. Her kissing the top of his head had been a possessive gesture that he had not expected. He saw Yusuke's eyes widen with confusion as she shifted, rubbing her cheek against his neck before kissing his neck at the pulse. It was a possessive gesture that almost caused Hiei to sigh. That was when it really began, the slow swipes of her tongue that ran from his collarbone all the way up to his chin before repeating in a slightly different path.

Hiei watched as Yusuke pulled away ever so slightly, but could not bring himself to do anything because of the half asleep state that Ariana's actions had evoked in him. Yusuke obviously didn't like what Ariana was doing, but behind those honey brown eyes he seemed to be slowly beginning to understand it. Mazoku always were incredibly hesitant to submit to others especially if anyone was there to see it happen.

Ariana did not pause her actions as she reached out and pulled Yusuke closer then he had been before he had moved back. Some of the earlier fear had begun to creep back and Hiei could hear Yusuke's heart begin to race, but to Hiei these seemed to be distant things until Ariana pulled away from him and his mind began to clear.

He heard Ariana sigh, that one sound seeming to be filled with disappointment. She kissed his neck in the same spot she had the last time.

"What are you so scared of Yusuke? And do not say that you are not scared because I can smell it in the air and hear the way your heart is racing." Her voice sounded very soft, almost a whisper.

Yusuke just shook his head, brown eyes still so very confused despite his newfound understanding of what was happening.

"Do you just not know or is it that you do not want to say it?" asked Ariana, voice still every bit as soft as the previous time she had spoke.

Yusuke once more buried his face in Hiei's spiky hair. A very long moment passed before he said anything and even then his voice held and uncharacteristic tremble.

"I...I don't know." Said Yusuke.

Yusuke might not have known what it was that he feared, but Hiei did. Yusuke feared being truly dominated and never having felt that fear before he had no words to describe it. Both he and Kurama had agreed that chances were that Yusuke would never need the information. They had been wrong and Yusuke was paying the price for them not telling him and showing him what could happen just because it was information that a demon lord would not need to know.

Yusuke was not scared. He was out and out terrified. He had no idea what was really happening and it did not help that the tiny voice of his newly acquired demonic instincts was whispering to him. Telling him that she would dominate him and that he should let her do it without a fight. That if he did it would be good and that he would be safe and protected. It made no sense at all to him.

He had seen what she had done to Hiei and how the Koorime hybrid had just lain there and let her do it. He had never before seen Hiei so relaxed or so out of it. It made no sense for Hiei to allow anyone at all, much less someone who still pretty much a complete stranger, place him in such a vulnerable position without a fight.

She was the one who had healed him with that warm, gentle energy, but she also looked entirely too much like that the one who had nearly gutted him. If the twin sister enjoyed that, then what could this one want? His instinct told him that he was being silly. That if she had intended to harm him that it would have been obvious in her energy. Logic said otherwise. Yusuke had no idea what to think.

He felt Ariana move on the bed, as she moved back to where she had first settled on the bed. He did not want her back at his back. Hiei he would have trusted to have his back, but not Ariana.

She rolled him onto his back and he did not struggle for fear the he would accidentally harm Hiei. It probably would not have mattered if he had because he knew that she was every bit as powerful as her twin sister, a scary thought but no more scary then the ones he had of what she could and might do to him. It was everything that he could not to tremble as another wave of fear passed through him. He was so very tired of being scared. A tiny voice he had been ignoring whispered that soon everything would be all right. He did not believe it.

She straddled his stomach and looked down at him with gentle eyes, the complete opposite of the look her twin had given him when she had been in the same position. That thought was all it took and suddenly he was back in the other bedroom room with the evil twin on top him, holding a sharp blade that seemed to gleam in the light of that room. He knew it was nothing but a flash back but he did not want to feel that sharp blade cutting through his own skin again. Once had been more then enough. Twice would surely be more then he could take.

Fear turned to panic and he trembled under this person that his instinct seemed to crave and his mind seemed to fear and he himself was caught between the two.

She leaned over him, kissing his forehead in an ever so gentle press of her lips.

"It is all going to be okay, Yusuke." She said, barely above a whisper. "I know what is wrong. I know what it is that you do not even know you fear and I know how to make that fear go away."

He opened his mouth to speak but she silenced him with a single finger place against his lips. He felt a small hand running soothingly through his hair and eyes that had been focused solely on Ariana and what she might do suddenly saw Hiei leaning over him. He wanted to plead with Hiei, to ask if there were anyway that his trusted friend and ally could make what was happening just go away. He began to wonder why it was that Hiei was so calm. If he had known how to he would have reached for Hiei with is mind, but telepathic communication was not something that he could do unless Hiei initiated the conversation. Especially not in the panicked state that he was in.

He tried to plead for that silent communication with his eyes, but if Hiei recognized what he wanted it did not show in his crimson red eyes. Who was this girl to have Hiei so completely under her control?

Her finger was still on his lips when she began, but a split second after that the finger went away. She licked his neck as she had Hiei's neck, except that she paused at every spot that caused a change in his breathing added just the smallest hint of teeth until his fear receded just the tiniest bit or the trembling eased. His fear was slipping away from him so quickly and concentrating was becoming more and more difficult. That little voice was back again, telling him that this was what he had needed to do, that he was safe and had nothing more to fear. He wanted to fight that voice, but the voice that had countered it, logic, was no where to be found in the fuzz that was all that was left of his mind.

When the last bit of the fear had left and he was more relaxed then he could ever remember without being asleep a strange sense of safety and peace began to creep in. It felt good and he began to wonder why he had fought against it. Why he had doubted Hiei when he knew that the other would not have let him go into anything that would hurt him blind.

He floated on those feelings until Ariana stopped and those feelings faded the tiniest bit.

"Feeling better?" asked Ariana as though she already knew the answer.

Yusuke nodded, feeling entirely to lazy to think of something to say.

The hand in his hair stilled and went away and barely a second had passed before he felt Hiei lay his head on his chest right over his heart. Hiei looked exhausted, crimson eyes half closed like a child struggling to stay awake when what they really want is to sleep. Hiei yawned, making no effort to stifle that sound, and Yusuke was suddenly aware, through the haze his mind was still coming out of, that he too was incredibly tired.

"I'm so sleepy..." Said Hiei and his voice sounded almost as tired as he always sounded before he collapsed but Yusuke had only seen that happen when Hiei had used his ultimate attack, the Dragon of the Darkness Flame.

"Then go to sleep, Little One. I shall be here when you wake. You too Yusuke, you both need your sleep."


	9. Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

When Yusuke woke the first thing he noticed was that Hiei's head was still on his chest and that sometime while they were asleep he had thrown his arm across Yusuke's chest and pressed his body as close as possible to his side. It was unexpectedly nice to wake up like this and part of him hoped that it would happen many more times in the future. A slight movement of the mattress and he turned his head to watch Ariana laying out clothes on the bed. He could see the digital alarm clock behind her and saw that it was almost two in the afternoon. Ariana was laying out three sets of clothes.

It seemed to Yusuke that the moment she realized he was awake she began to smile. She walked closer, before leaning over the bed and kissing his forehead. Hiei shifted in his sleep before looking up with eyes that were open but still half-asleep. Hiei also got a kiss on his forehead.

"What are the clothes for?" asked Hiei, his voice sounding small and half-asleep.

"I was thinking that we should take a bath to get all of the dried blood off." Said Ariana.

Hiei nodded as though her comment made perfect sense and lay his head back on Yusuke's chest.

It was only then that Yusuke remembered the blood that he had bled. He wondered why he hadn't thought of it before he had fallen asleep then realized that when it had happened he'd been far too relaxed to think of anything at all and with Hiei pressed against him the way he was it was almost as hard to think now.

Not that he wanted to think right now, because, despite how relaxed he was and how great he felt in this moment, that one mention of blood had memories from the last couple of days coming back. So many memories of things he had not been strong enough to prevent crammed into so very little time.

"Not your fault, Yusuke." Mumbled Hiei, as though he had known what had gone through the Tentei's mind. Knowing Hiei he probably had known and whether that knowledge came from Yusuke's mind or Hiei had sensed it from his aura Yusuke didn't know and did not care. Hiei had actually used his name and not the nickname that he had used ever since that first, fateful mission had led to their first meeting and that was something that Yusuke could count on the fingers of one hand and still have three untouched fingers. It was also something that made Yusuke smile.

A long moment passed in a lazy silence before anything else happened. Ariana disappeared into a room Yusuke assumed was the bathroom and soon after there was the sound of running water.

Suddenly the weight of Hiei's head on his chest was gone and he was looking up into crimson red eyes.

"There's something that you need to know." Said Hiei, his voice far more serious and hesitant then Yusuke had ever heard from the shorter demon. "It's something that you probably won't like."

"It is very unlike you to hesitate to say something so why are you doing it now, Hiei?" asked Yusuke.

"Because you might hate me after I tell you and that's the last thing that I want to happen." Said Hiei.

Yusuke's hand was pressed against Hiei's cheek before he'd even realized that he'd decided to move it.

"I couldn't bring myself to hate you even back when I thought you were evil. Not even when I was fighting you that first time and I was actually trying to hate you because of what you had done to Keiko." Said Yusuke.

There was a small smile of Hiei's face that only someone who knew Hiei as well as Yusuke would have noticed. Yusuke's smile transformed into a grin because he had been the cause of that oh so rare smile on Hiei's face. It was a grin that slowly faded as Hiei told him everything that Ariana had told him about why everything was happening.

There was a long moment before Yusuke spoke.

"It all makes sense now." Said Yusuke softly. "Except for how you could think I would hate you for that or did you think that for the same reason that you think that Yukina will hate you?"

Hiei could only manage a small, solemn nod.

Yusuke sighed, then wrapped his arms around Hiei. He opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by Ariana who was still in the bathroom.

"Unless you want your bath water to be cold I suggest you get your asses in the tub now." Said Ariana.

Hiei sighed, throwing a glance in the direction of the bathroom, obviously wondering if Ariana had deliberately interrupted their conversation. He grabbed Yusuke's hand as he climbed off the bed, knowing that the taller man would follow without further prompting.

Ariana was next to the unusually large and deep bathtub pulling her shirt off over her head before throwing that shirt into the far corner of the bathroom. Hiei let go of Yusuke's hands before starting on the belts that he wore. He could see from the corner of his eye that Yusuke was blushing bright red as he looked at the floor rather then the people around him as though he had just remembered that he was as naked as they were about to be.

Yusuke glanced up at the sound of Ariana's jeans and underwear joining her shirt in the far corner of the bathroom and the scent of fear in the room was suddenly almost overpowering. One look from Ariana and Yusuke took a step back suddenly trembling and breathing fast enough that he was nearly hyperventilating.

Hiei moved to calm Yusuke but Ariana was there first, moving in with a suddenness that had Yusuke taking another step back.

"It's okay, Yusuke." Said Ariana softly. "No one is going to hurt you because I won't let it happen."

Ariana's words seemed to increase rather then decrease Yusuke's fear as he took another step back. This time Hiei made his move before Ariana, stepping between the two and using a hand to gently force Yusuke to look him in the eyes.

"Calm down, Detective." Said Hiei. "Would I be standing here so calmly if there was something to fear?"

A moment passed in silence as Yusuke tried to bring his breathing under control and the scent of fear in the room plummeted to nearly undetectable levels.

"Thanks, Hiei." Said Yusuke, practically mumbling the softly spoken words.

Hiei almost managed to suppress the small smile he felt forming on his face. It made him wonder for a split second what it was about Yusuke that had him smiling so much or if there even was a reason for it at all. Once that split second passed Yusuke headed for the bathtub, leaving Hiei to finish removing his pants, wards, and bandana before he could do the same.

The moment that Hiei was in the tub, Ariana threw a wash cloth at him followed by a bar of soap both of which Hiei caught easily. Yusuke was already working on getting off the dried blood that seemed to cover his lover body with the water in the bathtub barely making that task any easier. Ariana was washing herself while watching how the water in the tub near Yusuke was slowing becoming a pale pink. Hiei thought she must have been wondering whether a shower would have been a better idea.

Hiei had barely finished cleaning himself when he more sensed then saw Ariana approaching. He didn't need to look to know that she was holding the bottles of shampoo and conditioner. He closed his eyes as she sat one of the bottles, presumably the conditioner, down on the edge of the tub behind him, knowing that she put some of the shampoo in her hand before he heard her place the shampoo next to the conditioner. The feel of the shampoo was cool on his scalp as she began to work it through his normally spiky hair but that sensation soon faded. Hiei had better things to pay attention to. Things like making sure that all three of his eyes were closed. He was not going to risk getting shampoo in his jagan eye. That was something that he had heard Kurama complain about enough to know that he did not want to experience it first hand especially since his jagan eye would be far more sensitive to such things then the human eye.

When Ariana removed her hands and seemed to be done, Hiei ducked beneath the water to get rinse the shampoo from his hair. It only took a few seconds of running his hands through his hair under water before he was sure that all of it was out. He looked at Yusuke after he came back up, water still running from his hair. Yusuke looked faintly amused at the prospect of Hiei having his hair washed. It did not bother Hiei in the least because he doubted that Yusuke would be able to escape the same treatment.

The conditioner was next after Ariana squeezed the excess water from his hair and like before Hiei already had his eyes closed. The conditioner went on like the shampoo had and when Ariana was once again done Hiei repeated the process that he had used to rinse the shampoo from his hair.

By the time that Hiei had opened his eyes, Ariana was already moving in Yusuke's direction with the shampoo and conditioner. Hiei could not help but smirk at the expression on the Detective's face.

Yusuke looked nervous but Hiei knew the other man well enough to know it wasn't over anything big. More then likely it was the slight chance of getting shampoo or conditioner in his eyes.

Hiei watched as Yusuke closed his eyes and Ariana began with the shampoo but after a few seconds Hiei realized that he was watching more then what was happening to the Detective. It seemed that for the first time he was noticing Yusuke on a level that he never had before and realized that a very attractive man had replaced the young boy that Yusuke had been when they first met.

When Yusuke ducked under the water to rinse his hair Hiei saw an unusual light in Ariana's eyes and it made him nervous because he had no idea what it meant. He thought about asking Ariana but decided not to risk asking when he was so unsure of what the answer would be. He considered saying something to Yusuke telepathically but once again he decided not to because he had no idea what to say. Making Yusuke panic over something that could in fact be nothing was something that Hiei wanted to avoid.

In the end Hiei could only see one option. That option being to move closer even if there was likely nothing that he would be able to do.

Watching Yusuke emerge from the water was quite distracting. It took more self-control then Hiei would ever admit to for him not to stare like an idiot at the water running down Yusuke's well-muscled chest.

Ariana grabbed the conditioner, squeezing some of the thick liquid from the bottle before returning it to its place next to the shampoo. She seemed to be spending more time working the conditioner through Yusuke's hair leaving Hiei to wonder if she was or if paying closer attention was warping his sense of time.

The second time that Yusuke went underwater to rinse his hair Ariana crooked her finger at Hiei, silently ordering him to her side. Hiei went; knowing that disobeying that order would be pointless. When he was close enough she put her arms around him, pulling him closer then he would have gone and resting her cheek on top of his head.

"I wish I could have told you all of this." Whispered Ariana softly. "But there is no time to do so and I need you to understand what I am about to do."

A nudge at his mind's defenses was the only warning that Hiei had before his mind was flooded with pictures and information. Suddenly he knew things that he had not known moments ago. Questions, including ones that he had not thought to ask, were being answered. The knowledge of what he was to Ariana and of what she was about to do to Yusuke and why she needed to do it seemed to float to the top of all that information. Hiei knew that it was not coincidence because his trained mind had felt Ariana giving emphasis to those bits of vital information so that they would not be lost in the flood of information.


	10. Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Hiei had expected Ariana to immediately go to Yusuke the moment that he resurfaced but she did not. She did take those steps away from him Instead she laid a gentle kiss on his closed jagan eye as he looked up to see why. Reflex made Hiei jerk away from that gentle touch. In the distant past, such gentleness had often turned quite forceful and he had overcome the other reflexes that time had instilled but he had not even given this one any thought at all.

Hiei instantly regretted that lack of thought, but pushed that thought aside quickly. He quickly closed the scant distance that his reflexive jerk had placed between him and Ariana, resting his head against her shoulder where it had been before he had looked up.

Ariana pushed him back a bit and though it was gentle, his first thought was that his earlier reaction had angered her. He didn't even look up, resisting the ever present urge to be defiant even when he knew that it would be a very stupid thing to be.

She kissed him. A soft press of her lips to his that seemed to say that there would be a lot more of this and other things later.

Hiei watched as she walked away from him and towards Yusuke, fighting the urge to do something, anything when he saw the quickly suppressed flash of fear in those brown eyes. She spoke to him; her voice soft as she tried to make what she was going to do to him less traumatic as though she could keep this one necessary evil from being the thing that broke him.

"I know you probably don't want to hear this and your even less likely to believe it after the terrible things that my twin and Koenma put you through." Said Ariana as she stroked Yusuke's right cheek with her thumb. "I really don't want to do this but it is the only way I know to break the final link between you and my twin."

"It's not like I have any choice in the matter." Said Yusuke as his eyes filled with a strange, almost disconsolate look. "You'll just do whatever you want to do no matter what I say or do."

"Perhaps in time you will come to believe me. Unlike my twin I really do not get off on rape or causing others pain. Just tell what you think will make this easier for you and we'll try it."

Yusuke looked at Hiei, a pleading look in his eyes. Hiei knew what he wanted and wished that he could give it, but knew that he could not. He had no answers and could not stop Ariana from doing what she was about to do. Hiei shrugged his shoulders ever so slightly and hoped that the other understood the message.

Yusuke looked away, brown eyes focused once more on the purple-haired girl who held so much control over the two of them.

"I don't know." Said Yusuke. "I just don't know."

"Then, I guess we improvise." Said Ariana.

Hiei almost had to look away as Ariana did something below the surface of the water that made Yusuke's eyes widen with fear. Ariana frowned for a moment before wrapping an arm around Yusuke's waist and beginning to calm him as she had earlier. It wasn't long before the fear began to fade only to be replaced by a look that Hiei had never before seen in those brown eyes. The soft, almost surprised, sounds of pleasure that Yusuke began to make were equally new to Hiei and those sounds were having an affect on Hiei that he did not like. They made him want things that he knew that Yusuke could not give him after what he had been through.

The urge to wrap his own hand around his increasingly erect member and to stroke himself in time to the sounds that Yusuke was making was strong and the fight against it was short-lived. Watching Yusuke's body react to the pleasure that he was feeling, hearing him begin to ask for more, faster was too much. Without conscious thought Hiei found himself stroking his member faster and faster as Yusuke's cries of pleasure became more frequent and more urgent, coming mere seconds after Yusuke moaned his own release as he collapsed against Ariana.

A strange tattoo, resembling the armlet that Ariana had place around his own arm before vanishing to only the gods knew where, flared to life on Yusuke's arm before disappearing just as quickly as it had appeared.

Ariana grabbed Yusuke's hand, leading him from the tub almost as soon as he was back on his own feet. The water in the tub had begun to grow cold and Hiei needed no order to know that she probably wanted him to follow her.

Ariana threw a large, fluffy towel at him the moment he was completely out of the tub.

"Anybody want anything specific for lunch?" asked Ariana as she began to dry her hair.

Kurama woke slowly, the fierce ache in his head that he had felt even when he was unconscious becoming a brutal migraine in the blink of an eye.

He had no idea where he was or why Youko Kurama was strangely silent. The surface he lay on was cold, hard, and rough. The area around him quiet, dark, and much cooler then Kurama liked. He could sense no one else's presence.

Even less was known on how long he had been unconscious. Instinct seemed to say about a day, but in this place so free of sensory input could instinct really be trusted?

All of this was known before Kurama even thought about opening his eyes and when he did open his eyes he learned nothing new. There was nothing to see in the darkness that surrounded him.

He sat up and regretted it the instant his head crashed into an unnaturally low ceiling, causing the redhead to curse loudly as the already severe pain in his head magnified several hundred times. He lay back down; whimpering softly as his much-abused head came in contact with the surface he lay on.

Reaching up, he felt the ceiling that he had bumped his head on. It was hard as the surface he lay on and felt like concrete. To his left was more of the concrete-like substance only inches away from where he lay, but to the right was the familiar feel of wood and at the top where it met the ceiling were what could possibly be metal hinges. He pushed at it but it did not budge.

Kurama had had no idea how scared his seemingly doorless prison had made him until he realized that there was a possible exit even if it would not open for him.

Confused and in pain he reached for Youko Kurama's presence hoping that the older being might know something that could help him but felt nothing at all. For the first time since before birth he was completely alone in his own mind and it scared him. There was an aching emptiness deep within his soul that had gone unnoticed only because of the extreme pain that he was in and the fear his situation had evoked.

Hours seemed to pass as he tried to come to grips with his situation before any sound entered the tiny place that he had found himself in. It was the voice of a female that Kurama did not know. She was complaining in a rather loud voice that sent waves of pain though his brain.

"I don't know why Naraku ordered us put that human down here. As hard as Kohaku hit him this place has probably already finished him off."

Another female answered; this one had a voice that seemed to be completely free of all emotion.

"Naraku's orders are not for us to question, Kagura, merely to obey." Said the second female voice.

"I should have expected that answer from you, Kana." Said Kagura. "I just hope we don't have to bury him before we go after that demon that Naraku wants us to find. Though why he's interested in that wind shinobi when he already has me slaving away for him I'll never know."

Kurama could hear footsteps as the females neared his location. Each step, though very quiet, caused untold pain to flare across his mind and it increased as the sound increased. Today, sound was not Kurama's friend.

The screeching of the wooden door that Kurama had not been able to open caused pain beyond anything that he had ever before suffered and the light that flooded in magnified even that indescribable pain to new levels and causing Kurama to whimper in pain. He quickly closed his eyes, blocking out the light as best he could with his hands.

"Let's get out of here, Kana. Now that we know he's still alive we've better things to do." Said Kagura.

The door that she had held open slammed shut with a resounding thud that wrung another whimper of pain from the redhead.

Even in his pain he reached out to press against the wooden door as soon as he could no longer hear the footsteps of the two females. Just as before it did not budge the slightest bit, making him wonder how that could be when he had heard neither the sound of a lock being unlocked or that of it being locked.

The female, he did not know which one, had opened it so easily and yet he could not make it budge. When had he become so weak?

It wasn't until some time had passed that he realized that he had not sensed the presence of Kagura and Kana at all. Why hadn't he sensed their presence? Were they merely a hallucination? Had he been warded in some way and not realized it?

The questions were making his head hurt. They took too much concentration.

Kurama decided to get some sleep. Hoping that when he woke the pain in his head wouldn't hurt as badly as it did now.


	11. Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

By the time that Ariana, Yusuke, and Hiei had finished their late lunch two thing were clear. The first was that Yusuke needed a good, long sparing session. It wouldn't be the solution to his problems but it would help him release some of his pent up frustration and anger. Bringing Hiei in to it would give similar benefits to the Koorime hybrid. The second was that browbeating Koenma into letting Yusuke and Hiei speak to Kuwabara would be a good idea but only if she managed to tire Yusuke enough that he would not try to beat the toddler-sized Reikei Prince to a bloody pulp.

Ariana quickly gathered the many empty dishes that covered the surface of the small table as she rose from her seat. If she did not at the very least put them in the dishwasher then she'd likely never ever hear the end of it from her twin.

"Anybody want to spar?" asked Ariana as she turned to face the room. Neither Yusuke nor Hiei answered. It was quite unexpected but she knew how to handle the situation.

"I can't believe that I'm hearing this, or rather not hearing anything from you two." Said Ariana as she gave both Hiei and Yusuke a disapproving look. "How am I to teach the two of you anything at all, much less the really cool things like how to fly despite the fact that neither of you are wind elementals, if you won't even spar with me?"

"Flying?" asked Yusuke. "You've got to be kidding."

"I'm being completely serious. Anyone and I really do mean anyone with enough ki or youki can learn how to do it." Said Ariana. "By the time I'm done with the two of you, you'll be able to fly circles around Jin and show him how slow his flying method really is."

"Not even the old hag can do that." Said Yusuke, clearly referring to the psychic master Genkai who had given him his initial training in martial arts. "I'm in."

"Hn." Was Hiei's monosyllabic reply.

"Then let's get going. We're going to need more room then there is in the front room if we want to do this right." Said Ariana.

She led them down several hallways and up many flights of stairs before they reached a room that seemed impossibly large, seeming to stretch out into the horizon and beyond.

The moment she faced him, Hiei made the first move and she blocked his attack with ease. That seemed to be all the invitation that Yusuke needed to turn it into a two on one spar with both him and Hiei teaming up against Ariana.

Hiei tried adding an element of fire to his attacks but Ariana kept the flames away by using her own energy as a shield that incidentally also deflected several rei gan attacks by Yusuke.

After seeing all of his attacks fail. Yusuke kicked his fighting up a few notches, allowing his demonic blood to take over, changing his form and making his power sky rocket. Ariana smiled as Hiei also tapped into more power, even if he did not switch to the alternate form that his jagan eye gave him. It was definantly a smart move because, despite the slight power-boost that the alternate form gave him, the many eyes that opened on his body were a distinct disadvantage in close quarters combat.

The new battle continued at that pace for a good half-hour until Hiei began to unravel the wards that held his Dragon in check. Ariana quickly appeared at Hiei's side, grabbing his arm to prevent him from continuing. Before speaking she reached behind her and grabbed the youki-charged fist that Yusuke was attempting to punch her with.

"We do not have enough time to wait for you to recover after your attack expires, Hiei." Said Ariana. Hiei looked up at her, a defiant gleam in the depths of his blood-red eyes. Ariana smiled at him. It was good to see that his fighting spirit was alive and well. "Besides when we're done here I was considering browbeating Koenma into letting the two of you talk to Kuwabara and I do think you'll want to be awake for that."

Hiei relented and when he tried to pull his arm out of her grip she let him, turning towards Yusuke so the Koorime hybrid could rewrap the wards he had partially removed.

Once Hiei rejoined the battle things continued for at least another hour and would likely have continued on beyond that but boredom began to take its toll on Ariana. It was something she found a way around rather quickly. The next time that Yusuke began to charge one of his attacks she quickly moved behind him and began tickling him, making the brown-eyed fighter quickly lose his concentration as he dissolved into laughter. Hiei attempted to take advantage of Ariana's concentration on Yusuke but was himself caught in the same situation when Ariana's left arm snaked out and grabbed him the instant he was close enough. Mere moments later, Hiei was also laughing.

About two minutes later Yusuke managed to speak despite his intense laughter.

"Please…stop." Said Yusuke.

Ariana stopped but quickly wrapped an arm around both Yusuke and Hiei to support them while they caught their breath, but once that happened she turned them loose only to have Hiei turn around and glare at her. Yusuke didn't exactly look happy either.

"Boredom is both mother and father to battle strategies that your opponents will not only not see coming but also be completely surprised by." Said Ariana as she grinned at them. "Beside tickling can be useful because the laughter prevents them from attacking you while making them short of breath and giving you time to catch your own."

There was no change in the way that Yusuke and Hiei were looking at her so she continued.

"Ok. I made all of that up as I said it, but it was still really funny to me." Said Ariana. That seemed to mollify Yusuke a bit but if anything Hiei was glaring at her even harder.

Ariana took a step towards Hiei; closing the distance and forcing him to tilt his head back so he could continue glaring at her. She kissed him, watching as the anger in his crimson eyes changed to surprise and his lips began to move against hers. It was pleasant, but the taste of his lips was addictive and she wanted, needed more. Pulling him closer and wrapping her arms around him was a start but she had a better idea.

Slowly, she ran her tongue across Hiei's bottom lip silently asking for more and receiving it when he opened his mouth for her. She explored his mouth thoroughly, finding the taste of him to be every bit as wonderful on the inside as it was on the outside and loving the way that his tongue moved against hers. When it was over she still wanted more, but she could wait because she knew that there would be a next time.

Yusuke was staring at them with a confused look in his brown eyes, though more at Ariana then Hiei and she was oh so tempted to ask him if he wanted a kiss too. To her, the taste of his skin was every bit as wonderful as Hiei's, but were she knew that Hiei would be at the very least a semi-willing participant she knew that such an act would just make Yusuke panic and that would be no fun at all.

The temptation to sigh was great but Ariana ignored it as kissed the top of Hiei's head and turned him loose.

"I guess it's time for some Koenma-bashing." Said Ariana. "If we're lucky we'll get the double satisfaction of not only causing him great annoyance but also delay his work so he'll have to work overtime so he won't suffer his father's wrath."

Yusuke seemed to perk up at the idea of getting some revenge on Koenma for his current situation but said nothing. She hadn't really expected a reply from Hiei and was not surprised when the Koorime hybrid kept his silence.

The path to Koenma's office was longer then the walk to the room that they had spared in and they ended up going down even more flights of stairs then they had gone up.

The multi-colored ogres in the gigantic room outside Koenma's office were as busy as ever. Some shouted out their demands for this or that piece of paperwork, while others bemoaned the increased paperwork they would have to fill out because someone had died ahead of schedule, and even more griped and bitched about the way the schedule showed a marked increase in the number of deaths they would have to process in the coming week. To the uninformed it looked like chaos but that was deceptive because despite appearances it was one of the most well ordered places in all three realms.

Despite their level of industry the ogres quickly moved out of the way as Ariana led Yusuke and Hiei through the maze created by the thousands upon thousands of desks that filled the room. Several of the ogres mumbled complaints, but the words were unintelligible or in Makai languages so old that not even Youko Kurama had ever heard them spoken or even mentioned as dead languages.

They had almost reached the door when one of the ogres, far more bold then any of the others, made a comment about how Koenma did not meet with gay people and how he sent those people to limbo where they belonged. Barely a heartbeat later Hiei had that ogres neck firmly in his grip, squeezing so tightly that his knuckles turned white and it was a miracle that the ogres neck had not been broken.

The nearby ogres began the call for Ariana to save their colleague and soon it seemed as though there was not a single ogre who had not joined in. Ariana ignored their call, watching the intense anger in Hiei's crimson eyes as he punched his victim, a neon pink ogre, in the gut. A dark blue ogre attempted to intervene on behalf of the neon pink ogre but Ariana quickly blocked him off and threw him across the room with what had to seem, to the watching ogres, as excessive force.

Silence began to spread with as much speed as the call to save the neon pink ogre who had acted in such a stupid manner. They knew well the consequences of incurring her wrath or of being in the wrong place at the wrong time when she was even mildly annoyed with any of them or anyone else. Most of them quickly went back to their work, giving the are were things were happening a wide-berth as they went about their duties for that shift.

The neon pink ogre was trying to make Hiei loosen his one-handed grip but his pathetic attempts failed time and time again and with each one his eyes seemed to bulge out from his eye sockets more and more. Hiei ended it with one last punch to the trapped ogres stomach and released him then smirked as he watched the ogre fall to the ground, struggling for the air that had been denied him while Hiei had strangled him.

When the neon pink ogre finally began to struggle to his feet some time later, Yusuke and Hiei exchanged a look, Hiei shrugging his shoulders ever so slightly as though he were responding to something in Yusuke's look.

Once the neon pink ogre was back on his feet, Yusuke walked over to him and in quick succession gave him a vicious punch to the gut, exactly where Hiei had landed his own blows, and an equally vicious kick to the groin causing the neon pick ogre to fall back to the ground in even more distress then Hiei had left him in. The pain-filled scream that was heard when the neon pink ogre once again caught his breath had Yusuke grinning and increased the satisfaction that could be seen in Hiei's smirk.

"Done? I think he's learned his lesson rather thoroughly and, while I'd usually not be in such a hurry, we really do have better things to do with our time then to kick his ass for his homophobic remarks." Said Ariana even as she grinned at the effects of both Hiei's and Yusuke's actions.


	12. Chapter Eleven

Chapter 11

Koenma's office was full. The desk he worked at was buried under and surrounded by gigantic stacks of paperwork waiting to be reviewed and given his stamp of approval. Koenma could barely be seen as he stamped paper after paper, placing them in a small stack that was dwarfed by all the stacks of unstamped paperwork.

"Go away." Said Koenma. He didn't even look up to see who he was saying it to.

"Not unless you give me the keys." Said Ariana.

That got Koenma's attention. The pint-sized Reikai Tentei Prince looked up, pausing mid-stamp to stare at Ariana as though she'd gone insane.

"You've no business with those keys. None at all. So leave and take those abominations with you." Said Koenma.

The temperature in the room shot up at least ten degrees within the next few seconds as Hiei began to glare at Koenma. Yusuke didn't do anything but he did look like he was barely keeping himself from killing his former employer.

Ariana walked right up to Koenma's desk and glared down at him from over the tops of the stacks of paperwork that littered his desk.

"You've no right to say things like that. Not after everything that they have done for you." Said Ariana.

"That was before I knew what they are." Said Koenma. "Now get them out of here before I call my father and tell him that you have been interrupting my work."

"Call him and I'll tell him exactly what kind of traitor that you have become." Said Ariana.

"Father never liked them. He won't care what I've done to them. In fact, I expect that he'll be happy that I've finally seen them for what they really are." Said Koenma, a smug expression on his face as he met Ariana's glare.

"Really?" asked Ariana. "Do you really think him stupid enough to overlook the fact that you betrayed them? One does not live to be his age without learning that traitors can not be trusted."

"You're too young to know what you're talking about." Said Koenma as he began to return he unwavering glare with one of his own.

"Young doesn't mean stupid. O learned my lessons at a very young age and I have not forgotten any of them in the easy years I have had since I started living here." Said Ariana.

"Only you and that twin sister of yours could call mission that the Spirit Defense Force has flat out refused easy and actually believe your own words." Said Koenma.

Ariana shrugged her shoulders but it didn't stop her from glaring at Koenma.

The Spirit Defense Force is full of pathetic wimps." Said Ariana. Those missions weren't just easy. They were boring. I haven't had a decent challenge since I was twelve."

"You're lying." Said Koenma.

"Believe what you will but hand over the keys before I let Hiei burn all of the paperwork in here and Yusuke beat you to a bloody pulp." Said Ariana.

The temperature in the room jumped another ten degrees and Yusuke began to look quite threatening as he cracked his knuckles in a fashion that worked well in both the Makai and Ningenkai, making both demons and humans alike flee in terror.

Koenma's eyes widened in fear as he scooted back as far as his chair would allow him. That action was accompanied by him beginning to frantically suck on his ever-present pacifier.

"You wouldn't dare." Said Koenma, but his voice was small and timid. He was scared, terrified of the threat that Ariana had made and it weakened him a great deal.

A moment later, Koenma opened the top drawer of his desk and pulled out a large ring of keys. He threw them at Ariana and she caught them with ease.

"Go away and leave me in peace so I can do my damned work, you mother-fucking bastards." Said Koenma as he covered his fear with a mask of disdain.

The words were barely out of his pacifier-filled mouth before Ariana had jumped his desk and had her hands around his throat.

"Never, and I do repeat, never ever insult my parents again." Said Ariana. She threw him back into his seat, the impact tipping the chair till it fell backwards and spilling the pint-sized prince onto the floor. Koenma fled, hiding under his desk while he trembled in fear.

Ariana stormed out of Koenma's office, nearly making Yusuke and Hiei have to run to keep up with her as she moved through the room with the industrious ogres. She stopped in the hallway outside that room, slamming the door hard enough to make the stone wall it was set in shake as soon as both Yusuke and Hiei had passed though it.

Leaning against the wall nearest the door, Ariana took several deep breaths, bringing her emotions back under control before she could meet Yusuke's and Hiei's confused eyes.

"He struck a nerve I didn't expect him to, but I still shouldn't have lost it like that. I've heard a lot worse and not done a damned thing. Maybe I have gone soft since I came to live in this dimension." Said Ariana.

"Worse then that and done nothing?" asked Yusuke, voice filled with disbelief as if what she claimed were truly impossible. "Have you no…"

Ariana interrupted him.

"Pride? There was a time I couldn't afford to have any. If I had acted as I just did back them the consequences would have been…" Ariana trailed off, visibly shaken as the images of those consequences flitted through her mind. She held out her arm to Hiei and he came to her, allowing her to pull him close and hold onto him as though he were a teddy bear.

"I…I don't understand." Said Yusuke.

"And I hope you never do." Said Ariana. "Maybe someday I'll tell you why that is, but even after the better part of a decade that is not a story that I am ready to tell anyone."

Yusuke didn't look convinced but when, after several minutes passed with saying nothing, Ariana decided it was time to move things along. She kissed the top of Hiei's head, silent thanks for what he allowed her to do in this public place where just about anyone could have walked by and seen it.

"Let's get going. Kuwabara is waiting." Said Ariana.

Kuwabara was being held in the Reikei dungeons his supposed crimes were in fact nonexistent but it seemed that such minor details mattered very little to Koenma. Even the guards, who were themselves considered almost as evil and heartless as the worst of the inmates, felt more pity for this human who had placed so many of their charges in the cells of that dungeon then that human's former employer.

There was, however, one unexpected benefit. For, in the dungeons of the Reikei, even the dead had physical forms.

Hiei was the first to recognize where their destination was. Ariana had expected him to because he had spent time in there while he was being sentenced for the crime he had committed when he had helped steal the artifacts of darkness. That had been before he had come to work with Yusuke.

"Why the hell would that damned toddler put the human fool down here?" asked Hiei.

"I don't know. Very little that Koenma does these days makes sense. An appeal is already in the works and it will be shown to King Yamma the moment that he returns from his latest vacation. We've nearly got a hundred percent chance of getting him out of the dungeon cause the impossible has happened. Even the guards are backing the appeal." Said Ariana. A small grin on her face as she remembered how she had convinced the guards to do her bidding. Koenma had been ever so furious at how she had gone behind his back and how he could do nothing to reverse what she had done.

Hiei, who had been walking beside Ariana, stopped dead in his tracks almost making Yusuke run into him and knock him down.

"That's beyond impossible." Said Hiei.

Ariana didn't even bother to stop walking, instead walking backwards so that she could see the looks on both Hiei's and Yusuke's faces.

"The guards here actually like him. Several of the inmates they have the most fun with were ones he helped bring down. And one of the ones that Kuwabara personally killed happened to be someone that the warden himself had wanted dead for several centuries. Apparently the demon in question had killed that wardens mate in a way that was beyond gruesome even for a murder in the Makai. I just made sure that that information was brought to the warden's attention before Boton had even ferried him to the Reikei." Said Ariana. "Although when Koenma found out he stole my own set of keys for around here."

Hiei was actually shaking his head at the way the obscenely impossible seemed to happen whenever she did anything.

"You're more meddlesome then the Fox." Said Hiei.

"A girl's got to have a way to keep herself amused and shopping is out of the question when one's closet really has no room left in it for new clothes or shoes." Said Ariana.

Yusuke had been uncharacteristically silent through the entire exchange between Ariana and Hiei. There was a look of complete confusion on his face. He really had no idea what they were talking about or why Hiei would think it so very impossible.

Ariana turned back around as Yusuke and Hiei began to walk towards her.

The door they sought wasn't much further down the hall and Ariana quickly located the appropriate key and opened the large, metal door and held the door open for Yusuke and Hiei.

The room that they had entered was small, one side of it being dominated by a small desk and the tri-horned demon who sat behind it. Next to that desk was the most heavily secured door in all of Reikei. It was also the heaviest door in all of Reikei and had barred many an escaped attempt merely because whether or not they had the keys to unlock the door very few demons were anywhere near strong enough to actually open or close that door.

The demon behind the desk jumped to his feet, nearly trashing the desk in the process.

"What can I do you for you, Ariana-sama?" asked the demon, his voice so to eager please that it actually had Hiei snickering. "It's not like you to bring us prisoners."

"No prisoners for you. We happen to be here to see Kuwabara." Said Ariana.

"Anything for you, Ariana-sama." Said the demon. His voice still every bit as eager as it had been the last time he had spoke. "Anything at all."

Ariana ignored them, using another key from the ring of keys she had acquired from Koenma to unlock the door. The door opened easily for her and she just had to turn around to see the look of shock on Hiei's face. Yusuke didn't look impressed, but that was only because he didn't know how heavy the door she had just moved was. Hiei was, but the shock was quickly hidden. Hiei did, after all, have a reputation to maintain.

The cells that lined the hallway beyond were crammed full of demons of all shapes and sizes. This close to the exit the cells had no real walls, just bars all the way around. Most contained at least twenty demons but this place was famous for it's overcrowding and sometimes there were cells into which over fifty demons had been stuffed. Those demons mostly unusually small, but in these small cells anything over two people would be considered ridiculously crowded in a human prison. The sounds and the smells were also far worse then any human prison. These prisoners never bathed, never bothered cleaning up after their own bodily functions, and always said whatever came to mind at the top of their lungs if they thought it was a filthy enough thought or it would get a reaction from anyone else.

Kuwabara's cell was much further down and well into the places were the cells looked like actual rooms and the only bars were those in the small windows that each cells wooden door had. As they reached it, a guard almost magically appeared, holding in his hand a single key that he held out to Ariana who grabbed it from it the moment it was presented. The guard disappeared as he appeared, his task completed.

Ariana was quick to unlock the door to Kuwabara's cell and even quicker to enter where she knew that at the very least the smells of this place. If she ever talked to the warden again she would recommend that they hire a powerful water elemental to clean out the cells. He would like that because not only would it reduce the ever-present stench but watching the prisoners who were still alive struggle not to drown in the tidal wave of water would bring him quite a bit of amusement.

"Who are…" began Kuwabara the moment he saw Ariana, but he switched gears immediately when he saw Yusuke and Hiei. "Urameshi! Shrimp! I never thought I'd get to see either of you ever again." The tall, orange-haired man swept both Yusuke and Hiei into a bear hug, not seeming to care about the fact that Hiei really did not want to be hugged by him.

Ariana got a good look at the cell while the others were preoccupied. Kuwabara's cell was the same size as all of the others with the same wooden door and the same barred window but that was were the similarities seemed to end. In this cell was a toilet up against the same wall that the door shared. A small sink was on the same wall but on the opposite side of the door. A mattress that barely looked long enough for Kuwabara's large body was against the far wall, complete with a badly worn blanket and a pillow. Compared to the conditions the other prisoners suffered, this was paradise.

"I'm sorry." Said Yusuke the moment that Kuwabara loosened his grip enough that he could get enough air to speak.


	13. Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve 

"There was nothing you could have done." Said Kuwabara. "We were surrounded."

Yusuke pushed himself away from Kuwabara before looking up at the taller man with tear-filled eyes.

"It was my fault that you were there at all." Said Yusuke. "If I'd told you that you couldn't go or hadn't helped you sneak out of the house you wouldn't have died. I couldn't even protect you when it mattered most."

Kuwabara grabbed Yusuke by the shoulders and gave him a good shake.

"I told you it wasn't your fault Urameshi. I don't want you spending the rest of your life blaming yourself for something that isn't your fault." Said Kuwabara.

Yusuke shook his head, as silent tears began to fall from his eyes.

"But it is." Said Yusuke. "You died because I couldn't protect you. They ripped you to pieces because I wasn't powerful enough to stop them. If I hadn't slacked off or if I'd kept up with my training you might still be alive. Who was I to think that I could keep you safe all by myself when I couldn't even protect myself."

Kuwabara reached out to Yusuke, but the shorter man stepped away, evading his friends outstretched hand.

"I couldn't even avenge your death. You died and the bastard who ripped your limbs off is still alive. I couldn't even kill him. He was only an A inferior and I couldn't kill him."

Ariana sighed and stepped away from the wall where she had placed herself so as to be out of the way. She hadn't expected Yusuke to begin to fall apart like this. She felt stupid for having ever thought that this meeting would be a good idea.

"Actually that demon is probably dead." Said Ariana. "My sister probably killed him. She tends to kill anyone and everyone who gets in her way in the Makai and him being one of Mukuro's soldiers he probably did get in the way when she showed up. I haven't checked the reports of what happened or asked her, but she probably killed upwards of five to six hundred demons on that trip, most of them probably just because she felt like it."

"Mukuro wouldn't have let someone like the Detective out of her dungeon without a fight." Said Hiei.

Not even a second later Ariana let out a few curse words that she had learned during her childhood.

"I can't believe I didn't think of that. As kill-happy as Ariel is there's no way in hell that she didn't kill Mukuro." Said Ariana.

"Kuso." Said Hiei as the implications of Mukuro's death sank in.

"You said it, Hiei." Said Ariana.

Kuwabara looked even more confused, but Ariana didn't particularly care about the orange-haired man and the only exception to that was for how the dead human's condition affected Yusuke or Hiei because they did care about their friend's thoughts and feelings. It was true that Hiei didn't care much, but it was a well-known fact that Kuwabara had earned his respect if nothing else.

"How is it even possible to kill that many so easily or talk about it as though it were nothing?" asked Yusuke.

It was just like Yusuke to get stuck on how many demons had been killed rather then who those demons were.

"Because it is easy to kill someone if they mean nothing to you and you are more powerful then they are." Said Ariana. "For Ariel it is even easier because she enjoys the killing and the more she kills the better the mood it puts her in."

This time Yusuke flinched at the name of Ariana's twin. His extreme fear of her showing itself though the guilt and shame that he was feeling for a split second.

"Is…is that way she enjoyed…what she did…to me?" asked Yusuke.

"No, it isn't, Yusuke." Said Ariana. "She just likes to cause everyone else to feel the pains that she feels. She wants you to believe that you are every bit as tainted as she feels because she thinks it makes her feel better."

Yusuke opened his mouth to speak, but Ariana gave him no chance and he closed his mouth the moment that she continued.

"But inside, where it counts far more then physical strength or prowess in battle, you are far stronger then she is. That strength of will and character is why you feel the way you do and why you are trying to claim guilt that is not yours to claim. You had no way to know that Koenma had betrayed you and no reason to expect anything resembling a challenge. Koenma set you up to fail, he sent you off knowing you were taking Kuwabara with you and he said not a thing. The fault belongs to Koenma and not you because he watched everything that happened to both you and Kuwabara on his wall monitor while he ate popcorn and masturbated." Said Ariana.

That statement had everybody looking at Ariana as though she had just grown a second head and that second head had horns, fangs, and other equally demonic features.

"When Boton first heard that something was happening to Hiei she ran to Koenma because she hadn't believed that he was behind it and that was what she saw. If you don't believe me you ask her yourselves next time you see her." Said Ariana.

"All of existence has just gone to hell in a handbag." Said Kuwabara. "Who knew the damned bastard had it in him."

"If he'd have stayed dead I'd have killed him a long time ago, but as it is, killing someone who is essentially immortal is beyond pointless." Said Ariana.

"I'm going to kill that damned toddler." Said Yusuke as his demonic energy began to swirl around him as it skyrocketed to new heights, but as exhausted as he was from the earlier sparing session it plummeted back to what it had been just as quickly as it had risen. The anger remained, but Yusuke suddenly looked as tired as his low energy level indicated he was.

Hiei looked just as angry but that anger was tempered and well contained. Hiei was one who knew well how to keep his emotions in check.

"That would be pointless. His father would only bring Koenma's back to life, even if his body was reduced to nothing." Said Ariana. "And because his father really is immortal there isn't much that can be done, but I do have a plan in motion that will ensure that the rest of his life is as close to a living hell as I can make it."

"And how are you going to do that?" asked Hiei.

"By giving all of the god-like entities in the Reikei access to the most restricted parts of the Reikei computer system. Already they have begun to act using that highly classified information to smite those that they hate and protect those that they favor." Said Ariana. "The chaos is going to completely throw off the death schedule and for each and every person who dies in a manner and time other then the scheduled one or lives when they should have died the day's paperwork can double or even triple. It'll be decades before Koenma finds the cause and even longer before he figures out that it's impossible to take away access once it is given."

There was the sound of loud footsteps outside the cell as several guards approached. It seemed that Yusuke's anger had drawn the attention of the guards. Hiei positioned himself next to the door so that it would hide him as the guard swung it inward as one of the guards fumbled around with a key, attempting to unlock a door that was not locked. After several seconds passed that guard's fumbling efforts became quite annoying and Ariana opened the cell door.

There were four large demons on the other side of the door and each one of them seemed to be in an incredibly bad mood. The tallest of the four, who also seemed to be in charge of the other three, stepped forward around the demon who had been having so much difficulty with the door and glared down at Ariana which was easy because he was over ten feet tall.

"What the fucking hell is going on in here?" asked the tall demon.

"It's none of your business." Said Ariana as she returned the demon's glare. "So go away and do something worthwhile like reducing the stench in this place. I highly recommend hosing down the demons in the barred cells."

The demon stepped forward, making himself look ever bit as aggressive and frightening as he possibly could. "And just the hell do you think you are?"

Ariana also took a step forward. She pushed the demon backwards, causing him to fall on the three who had come with him. One of the smaller demons ran towards the barred cells as though he believed his life was at stake. Another who had been pinned by the taller one's body seemed to go catatonic for lack of an escape route, The third was tugging frantically at their leader's sleeves, whispering, "Sir, sir, you don't know who she is. Please don't…" he was silenced as the much larger demon gave him a punch to the head and a cracking sound was heard by all before the small demon crumpled to the ground with his head at an impossible angle.

"I happen to be Ariana and I happen to be in a particularly bad mood. Perhaps I should take that anger out on you. The warden won't miss someone as stupid as you after I tell him how you killed someone for trying to save you from your own stupidity." Said Ariana.

A voice called out from several cells down.

"That won't be necessary, Ariana-sama. I'll deal with the stupidity of your own people but I am afraid that I will have to cut short your visit today. The people your twin killed on her most recent jaunt through the Makai are beginning to come in and having this cell unlocked is something we can't risk till we have them all stuffed in cells and knowing your sister it could take a few days." Said the dungeon's warden as he walked into sight.

The warden was an unimposing sight but the tall demon who had been acting so stupidly moment before was now shaking in fear. The warden punched his stupid guard and sent him flying out of sight. He would most likely receive further punishment later, but no one really cared about him anyway.

"How many did she kill?" asked Ariana.

"So far, according to the latest reports, she's killed five thousand demons about three or four levels down in the Makai and hasn't stopped yet." Said the warden.

"I know Koenma shut it down to save money on guards, but I think your going to have to open up the lower levels." Said Ariana.

"Koenma-same won't like that one bit." Said the warden.

"I know that, but I also know my twin better then you do. If she hasn't stopped at five thousand then I don't think that she's going to stop till she's killed three or four million and she probably won't stop there either. Believe me, by the time it's all said and done, you will have no choice but to open up those levels and it's best you do it now before the demons come flooding in." said Ariana.

The warden's eyes widened in shock as he heard the numbers that Ariana had predicted.

"Yes. I shall do that immediately, Ariana-sama." Said the warden, before he scurried away to do her bidding.

"Do you guys really have to leave so soon?" asked Kuwabara.

"We haven't got a choice in the matter, but I'll bring them back to visit once things calm down around here. Unless, of course, Yamma gets back from his vacation early and you get out of here before that happens and then we'll visit much sooner." Said Ariana.

"Hey, why are you answering for them?" asked Kuwabara. "And who are you anyway?"

"You should have asked those questions earlier, because I don't have time to answer them completely. So I'll just say that I'm someone with your friend's best interests at heart in a time when no one else can do anything for them. I highly doubt that you want them here sharing a cell with you as they await Koenma's decidedly unfriendly judgement." Said Ariana.

"Worry about yourself, Fool." Said Hiei as he emerged from behind the still open door. "As crowded as this place is about to become, even you might not have this cell to yourself for much longer. That you've had it at all is a miracle the likes of which this place has never before seen."

"Hiei's right." Said Yusuke. "Worry about yourself, Kuwabara. We'll be fine. Any messages for anyone in case we get to see them?"

"No, Boton let me see them before she brought me to Reikei." Said Kuwabara. His eyes began to fill with tears as he continued. "They don't need any reminders that I died and I don't want Yukina crying any more tears over me."

Hiei's eyes narrowed as he heard that his secret twin had cried over the dumb oaf, but the only sound that he made was he trademarked, "Hn."

Yusuke immediately looked over at Hiei, but it seemed that Kuwabara thought that Hiei was merely making fun of the grieving of others. He lunged at Hiei but Ariana blocked him by stepping into his path and pausing there before walking out of the cell. Yusuke and Hiei followed and the last thing that Kuwabara heard of them, besides the sound of their feet as they walked away, was the sound of his cell being locked behind them.


	14. Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen 

George, Koenma's chief ogre, was waiting for them when they reached the small room with the eager, tri-horned demon. Ariana threw the keys at him before he could open his mouth to ask for them. She had known that he would here be waiting for the keys and he had known that she would know.

"Thank you, Ariana-sama." Said George, but he couldn't seem to look her in the eye while he said it. It seemed that even George, Koenma's ever-faithful servant, was ashamed of all that had happened and was still happening. He seemed to gather himself together before he addressed Yusuke and Hiei. Yusuke-sama, Hiei-sama, I am deeply sorry that I could not prevent Koenma-sama from acting as he did. I should have noticed his plans before he put them into play and stopped him." George bowed deeply, nearly prostrating himself as he sought the forgiveness of the two men who had once worked for and sacrificed so much for his boss.

"Stop that now, you damnable weakling." Said Hiei as he sneered to show his contempt for the display of weakness.

George looked up at Hiei for a split-second before running out of the room.

Ariana shut the door to the dungeon, its locking mechanism was automatic, and went out the other door into the hallways of the Reikei palace. They had a few more things to do before they could call it a day and go to bed. This day seemed to be getting longer and longer and the more they accomplished they more they seemed to have left to do.

The first of those things, though she had yet to so much as hint at it, was a trip to the armory to get Hiei a new katana if he found one that he liked. If all of the weapons in the armory were barely good enough to not have been thrown away by the people who had created them, as experience told her they would be, then Hiei would just have to wait. It was a good bet that several days would pass before there would be time to go to his favorite weapon's store or pick up a back-up that he had stashed somewhere.

This time Hiei did not realize what their destination was until they reached it and she opened the door and walked in. There were two large ogres guarding that door, but neither said a word when Ariana barged in. It was either a very intelligent act or one motivated by fear and terror but because an 'intelligent ogre' was considered an oxymoron the first was far more likely then the second.

Hiei's eyes had immediately gone to the katana on the far side of the room, but he did not approach them.

"Go on, look at them, Hiei. If you find a katana you like consider it yours. If you don't then I'll see what I can do later." Said Ariana.

Hiei looked the katana over carefully, passing over the vast majority of them without even touching them. Even the few that he did pick up were put back after a matter of seconds. The last one that he picked up seemed to hold up to Hiei's scrutiny rather well, but after a few experimental movements the blade fell away from the hilt, landing on the stone floor with a loud clanking sound. It had been the best of the lot and even it had fallen short of Hiei's standards.

"There's nothing but garbage here." Said Hiei as he scowled at the broken katana.

"I'd expected as much, but my knowledge of such things is all but nonexistent so I couldn't be sure." Said Ariana.

Hiei let the sword hilt fall from his hand as he turned toward Ariana. He was done here. Any katana that had not been checked by him would remain unchecked, because there would be no hidden gems to find in this room where garbage passed for weapons.

The walk to Ariana's apartment from the armory was the shortest they had taken that day and, not for the first time, Ariana felt like cursing the layout of the Reikei palace. Some days it seemed that there was not a single room whose location made sense.

Ariana hesitated at her door. Something was off. Someone she did not know had come and gone while they had been absent and whoever that person was they were quite powerful. She worried about what she could have done if that person had still been there, but put that worry aside. There was no sense in worrying over something that had not happened.

Inside the front room it was quite easy to see what their unexpected guest had left behind. There were two boxes on the couch, one was much larger then the other. On top of the larger box was an envelope and her name was written on it in her father's familiar handwriting. Ariana picked up the envelope, ignoring the scent of food coming from the larger box. Whatever it was that her father had deemed important enough to write down was certainly more important then her stomach. She quickly tore the envelope open so she could read it contents.

Ariana

The small box is filled with capsule boxes. They expand with the push of a button and hold far more then their current size would indicate. When one is full simply push the same button a second time and they will resume their current size and weight. I don't want o hear any complaints that you had to leave something behind. If you have not already figured out the contents of the larger box then you are no Saiyan. You had better be ready to go at eight. The Onna is already planning festivities, after the many times that I told her not to, and she and Kakarot's harpy of a wife will both be in a really bad mood if their plans are delayed. I do not want to sleep on the couch and you will be even more unhappy then I if that comes to pass.

Your Father 

Vegeta

The part about the women nearly had Ariana laughing, but she did not. Who were these women to have such control over her father? She put the letter aside. She would meet these women tomorrow and then she would make sure that she learned why they felt that they could assume such liberties.

The food turned out to be a large variety of Chinese foods in paper cartons. Beneath the food were enough plastic bowls and chopsticks for everyone present. Ariana made sure that both Yusuke and Hiei had what they wanted before she filled her own bowl because no species that she had encountered could hold a candle to a Saiyan when it came to speed in eating. The last piece of food was an egg roll that Hiei and Yusuke were silently fighting over. One would reach for it with their chopsticks while the other would use their own chopsticks to block. Ariana was tempted to solve the argument by eating it herself, but decided not to. She grabbed the egg roll, tore it in half, and then gave one half to each of the two warring parties.

Packing was easy with the help of the capsule shaped objects that turned to enormous boxes at the push of a button. She had her walk-in closet emptied into one of those boxes in less then half an hour. She had folded nothing and had not removed a single piece of clothing from its hanger, merely removing them from the rod and throwing them in the box. She would deal with wrinkles later but only if they became a problem. The dresser had taken even less time then the closet; dumping the drawers into the box was quite the time saver. She had already set aside clothes for that night and the next day.

The rest of the stuff she wanted to take took even less time then the dresser. She thought about unplugging the alarm clock, but though better of it. She could pack it in the mourning after it woke her up. If she set it for six she would have plenty of time and there would be no risk of sleeping in.

When the packing was done she turned her attention to the bed and its bloodstained covers. It was true that the stain was small, but that was no excuse for being lazy enough to not changing them. She pulled the covers off the bed and threw them in a corner on the far side of the room and was happy to see that the blood had not stained the sheets. She brought in new covers she had taken from the small closet off of the front room and wasted no time using them to make the bed.

Ariana sat on the newly made bed with the feeling that she had forgotten something important. Something that should have been on her mind all day, but she had not a clue what that something was.

Yusuke and Hiei were standing against the wall, chances were it was so they wouldn't get trampled while she had been moving around and packing everything. Looking at them, or rather looking at Yusuke, was enough to remind her of what she had forgotten. No one knew what the effects of being in a different dimension then one's spirit beast was or even if there were any effects at all. Leaving Puu in this dimension could have no effect at all on Yusuke, but the chances that it would have an effect, most likely a bad one, were too real to be ignored. But was there time for a trip to the Ningenkai?

A glance at the clock answered that question. Even after all that had happened since breakfast it was only almost six o'clock. They wouldn't have much time for visiting, but in a case like this something had to be better then nothing and the next chance might not come for several weeks or months.

"Anybody up for a trip to the Ningenkai?" asked Ariana.

"After everything we've done today I can't believe that you're still coming up with new stuff." Said Yusuke.

"We have a limited amount of time to do everything we need to do therefore it must be crammed into today. Besides, I highly doubt that you want to go to another dimension without Puu or without saying goodbye to any of your friends or your mother." Said Ariana.

"Keiko's going to slap me for disappearing and I don't feel like being her punching bag." Said Yusuke.

"The answer is easy. You need to learn to duck." Said Ariana.

"That's easier said then done." Said Yusuke.

"Only because you're too used to letting her hit you. If it were anyone else with the same power level you'd see it coming a mile a way and either duck or use it as a chance to launch n attack of your own." Said Ariana. "And what about you, Hiei? Anywhere that you need to or want to go while we're in the Ningenkai?"

"The Fox keeps a spare katana for me at his place." Said Hiei.

"Ok. That puts up to three places we need to go. Genkai's temple, wherever the heck Keiko is, and Kurama's place. Is there anywhere else that needs to be added to the list?" asked Ariana.

"I should apologize to Shizuru." Said Yusuke.

"You mean you want her to beat you up for her little brother's death." Said Ariana. "That is not going to happen. I don't care if she's grieving, I am not going to let her to beat you up just because you feel like you deserve it."

"Why would you care if she did?" asked Yusuke.

"I don't know what the hell my sister told you that it means, but in my mind the fact that you are mine means that you are mine to protect and to keep safe even if it means protecting you from myself or yourself." Said Ariana.

"But why?" asked Yusuke.

Ariana was tempted to give up on getting him to understand what she was telling him, but she was far too stubborn to give in to that temptation.

"Because I do." Said Ariana. "If you want a better reason then that then I can't give it you because that reason does not exist." That shut Yusuke up. One of these days someone was going to have to convince him to stop feeling so guilty for something that he could not have prevented, because at the rate he was going sooner or later he'd get himself killed. And he would do it despite the best efforts of both herself and Hiei. Yusuke was just too stubborn to give in on his need to suffer some penalty because of the way in which Kuwabara had died without quite a bit of time and one hell of a fight.


	15. Chapter Fourteen

Author's Note: Sorry for the lateness of these chapters. You should not expect the next one up anytime soon but the backlog has at least given you plenty to read until then.

Chapter Fourteen

When Kurama woke for the second time he was having a lot less trouble thinking. The pain in his head had become nothing more then a dull throb and no longer interfered in his thought process.

Youko was still silent, but now Kurama could feel the ward that caused his other half's silence. What remained unknown was whether or not that was the intended purpose of the ward or if that was merely an unintended side effect.

He tried the door again and it still did not budge. Perhaps the ward was also draining his strength. It would account for his inability to open a simple wooden door, but his weakness could also be a result of his injuries. It was hard to tell.

Kurama ran his hands over his body as best he could in that confined space. He had to remove the ward if he could do it. Without it he might have a chance to escape. With it still attached, he was not much better off then a sitting duck.

He found it on his leg, tucked inside a rip in his pants. It burned his fingers, but he kept them there until he had managed to find the edge and pull it almost all the way off. The pain was almost worse then his head injury but he forced himself to grab hold of it again and pull it the rest of the way off. It hurt. Oh Inari, did it hurt but now it was over with and it had been worth it.

Youko poured back into him, filling him up with the strength that the ward had sealed away. The pain in his fingers faded as Youko's demonic healing began to kick in at an accelerated rate. Youko was angry that his other half had been treated as he had and even more angry with those who had caused his injuries. It was that anger that fueled the healing process and because of its magnitude Kurama's injuries had finished healing in a matter of minutes.

The door that had proven itself to be such an obstacle on previous occasions now opened easily even if its screech was still painfully shrill to his ears. He would learn what he could on his way out of this place, wreaking his vengeance on whomever he met. When that was done he would seek out Jin and warn the wind shinobi of the possible danger that was heading his way, that is if he reached him in time.

It was possible that Kagura and Kana, if those were even the right names, were weaklings who had already been defeated by Jin. Kurama just did not know enough about their powers or abilities to know anything for certain. Besides the wind shinobi would want to hear about the fate that had befallen Yusuke. They were good friends after all.

It was raining in the Ningenkai. Not so much a heavy rain as a light, persistent drizzle. A sharp wind drove the damp, cold air through clothing as though it was not there at all. The Ningenkai had seen better days and it was just their luck that this was not one of those days.

Genkai had been waiting on her temple's porch for Ariana, Yusuke, and Hiei when they had exited the portal from the Reikei. She was shorter then Ariana had expected her to be, but the Saiyan princess did not let that show on her face. This was the woman who had pounded most of Yusuke's training into him and, based on the results, she had done a damned good job.

"She a friend of yours, Dimwit?" Asked Genkai.

Yusuke fidgeted under Genkai's gaze for several seconds before coming up with an answer, that while true, avoided several uncomfortable truths that Yusuke did not feel he was up to discussing.

"Ariana wants to teach Hiei and me some stuff." Said Yusuke. "But it means that we'll be spending quite a bit of time in the dimension she comes from."

"And what does she know of fighting?" asked Genkai.

Yusuke started fidgeting again. Genkai would want answers, real answers and Yusuke just was not up to that in-depth conversation. It was also a conversation that they did not have time for unless they cut to the chase which would be even harder on Yusuke. Then again, this was Genkai and if anyone knew how to talk to Yusuke it would be her.

"Wouldn't it be a better idea to just ask me?" asked Ariana.

Genkai ignored her, still being focused on her former student.

"Hiei and I sparred with her earlier today. It was two on one and she defeated both of us as though we were nothing." Said Yusuke.

"I'm finding that hard to believe." Said Genkai. "Unless of course you've been slacking off again, Dimwit."

"Even if he had been slacking off it wouldn't have mattered. The training that he has received so far is solid, but if Yusuke is going to kick it up to the next level then he's going to need someone powerful enough to push him to his limits and beyond." Said Ariana.

"And you believe that you can do that?" Asked Genkai. "Or is he just going to wind up surpassing you as well?"

"I doubt it, especially with the way that my father will having me work my own ass off." Said Ariana.

"So it'll be your father who is in charge, won't it?" Asked Genkai.

"No. He won't. Father wouldn't put forth any effort in training someone who isn't even part Saiyan." Said Ariana. "His focus will be as it has always been and that will be on his own training and that of his children."

"There is something that you're not telling me." Said Genkai. "Something important. Why are you doing this? And why now?"

"Do you want me to tell her, Yusuke?" asked Ariana. "She doesn't have to know if you don't want her to."

"No, I'll tell her myself." Said Yusuke. His voice was trembling but he did exactly as he had said. He told her almost everything. He did not tell her what had happened in the bathtub earlier that day and he kept the details of what Mukuro's soldiers and Ariel had done to him to the bare minimum.

By the time that he finished Yusuke was on the verge of tears, not that anyone would or could blame him after all that he had been through. Even Hiei had been moved by the story despite the fact that he had seen most of it in Yusuke's own memories. He had moved behind the Yusuke and placed a hand on his back where Genkai would not see it.

Yusuke gave Genkai no chance to respond running towards the thick forest that surrounded the temple before his words had a chance to sink in. Ariana wanted to run after him, but knew that right now she would only be a further reminder of everything that he had gone through.

Hiei shot a rather nasty glare in Ariana's direction. As obvious as his anger was the cause of it was even more obvious. It was a well-known fact that the woods surrounding Genkai's temple were infested with low-level demons. Under normal circumstances, none of them would pose even the slightest risk to Yusuke, but these were not normal circumstances and, as he was, Yusuke was almost defenseless. There was no one watching Yusuke's back in a forest of demons that would be more then happy to slaughter him. That was the source of Hiei's anger.

There was only one way to solve that problem.

"Go on, Hiei. Make sure he doesn't get himself into anything he can't handle." Said Ariana.

Hiei did not hesitate before flitting off in the direction that Yusuke had run.

"You're not going after him yourself?" Asked Genkai.

"Yusuke is in good hands." Said Ariana. "He'll be just fine."

Genkai tried to say something, but Puu drowned her words out as he burst through the doors of the large barn that had sheltered him from the bad weather and took to the sky, flying in the direction that both Yusuke and Hiei had gone.

"How can you say that he'll be fine after what's happened to him?" Asked Genkai.

"I did not mean to imply that it would be an overnight process, but give it some time and there will be a day when it will come to pass." Said Ariana.

"You still haven't told me why you're doing any of this." Said Genkai.

Ariana shrugged her shoulders.

"You're not the only one who wants to know the answer to that question. Sometimes I try to tell myself that the reason I'm doing any of this is the potential that I sense within both Yusuke and Hiei, but I know that I am lying to myself and that not even I know what the real reason is." Said Ariana.

It was at that moment that Hiei emerged from the woods with Yusuke. The brown-eyed man looked as though he had been crying, but he did look calmer then he did when he ran off. He would not be up to any more stops anywhere else. This one had been too much to ask of him and Ariana would not compound that problem by asking for even more.

The problem was that she had all but promised Hiei the chance to pick up his spare katana at Kurama's house. The answer appeared in her mind almost as soon as she realized that there was a problem. Hiei would just have to retrieve the katana on his own. She and Yusuke would just wait here until he returned which he would do. Hiei was not the kind to run off on someone when that person needed him, especially when that someone was Yusuke.

But before any of that could happen, she needed to apologize to Yusuke. He had tried to let her know that he wasn't up to this and she had ignored him. She had placed the things that needed to be done, but could also be put off with ease, in front of his well being and that was unforgivable. She hugged him and then gave him a kiss on the cheek before she spoke.

"I'm sorry, Yusuke. I should have listened to you and put this off." Said Ariana. "You can visit everyone else when you feel up to it."

"But what about Hiei's katana?" Argued Yusuke. "He won't like coming all this way for nothing. And what about Puu? You were right. I can't just leave him behind."

"Then Hiei will just have to go get it on his own." Said Ariana.

"Hn." Said Hiei.

"If you want it go get it, Hiei. I can't say when the next chance will come." Said Ariana.

Less then a second had passed before Hiei was out of sight.

Hiei sped through the trees at top speed even though he was tempted to slow down and savor his first moments alone since the previous day. As he approached Kitsune's home, the rain started coming down faster as the wind picked up in speed and the temperature became lower. As much as Hiei enjoyed the solitude, spending extra time in the rain was not worth it.

Part of him wanted to grab his spare katana and run off to some unknown, seldom traveled part of the Makai. He knew where a portal was and that he could get through it and be long gone before Ariana knew that anything she did not want to happen was happening. It would be freedom, but that freedom would be temporary. She would be angry when she found him. Yusuke would feel like he had been abandoned and betrayed. Hiei could not do it. He could not leave Yusuke feeling as though he had been abandoned and betrayed for a freedom that would be temporary at best even if it meant willingly returning to captivity at the end of this trip.

Even before Hiei came to a halt on the tree branch outside the Fox's bedroom window, he knew that the plant manipulator was not home. His bedroom was dark; the window shut and locked. The few, lingering traces of the Fox's youki were all more then a day old. The Fox had not been home since the last time that Hiei had seen him.

Hiei entered the Fox's bedroom with ease. The lock on the window had not been much of a challenge to him because the Fox knew that his plants would and could take care of any unwelcome intruders. Hiei did not fall into the category of an unwelcome intruder and the plants that were this room's true defense ignored him.

Hiei grabbed his katana and left, closing the window behind him even if he was unable to lock it from the outside. The fact that the katana was gone would be all the explanation that the Fox would need for the unlocked window.


	16. Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

Author's Note

I am sorry for the long time span that has passed since I last did anything with this story. I am even sorrier to say that I can not promise that this will not happen again. Real life is at times a bitch and my muses are temperamental and have the attention spans of hyperactive ADHD goldfish at the best of times. It also does not help that right now my attention is split because this fanfic and six others none of which have seen the light of day anywhere. If you wish to motivate me to update this sooner leave a review. For status on this or any other fanfic I am working on, check out my LJ, my name there is the same as it is here, unless you don't want to risk seeing spoilers.

Yusuke's nervousness and fear had reappeared almost as soon as Hiei was out of sight. He tried to hide it, but Ariana was still holding him and could feel the way that he was trembling.

Puu landed behind Yusuke who went to his spirit beast the moment he was fully settled on the ground, the close proximity to the large blue feather phoenix calming him quite a bit. Puu made a trilling, almost scolding sound before using one wing to shield Yusuke from the rain. Yusuke ignored the sound, wrapping his arms wound Puu as best he could and hiding his face in his spirit beast's fur.

Genkai gave Ariana a strange look before disappearing inside her temple.

"She hates me doesn't she?" Asked Yusuke.

"No, I think she's just in shock." Said Ariana. "Even as edited as it was I think that it was too much for her to take in all at once."

"That was an act." Said Yusuke. "She's disgusted with me. I saw it in her eyes."

"Then not only is she a better actress then I gave her credit for being, but it seems that I overestimated her intelligence. Only an idiot would blame you for something you could not have prevented." Said Amy.

"Can we not come here for a while?" Asked Yusuke, his voice sounding small and timid. "I...I don't think that I can handle being around her again."

"Then we won't come back here until you tell me that you can handle it." Said Ariana. She hugged him from behind and couldn't help a small smile when he didn't tense up or try to move away from her.

"What if that day never comes?" Asked Yusuke.

"Don't worry about it Yusuke-kun." Said Ariana. "It's not like this is the only portal into the _Ningenkai _in the area so you'll still be able to see the people that you want to see whenever we come to this dimension in the future. Can't say how often those visits will be right now or even when the first one will be but we'll work something out soon enough."

The rain began to pour down quite hard but it didn't fall on Ariana or Yusuke because Puu's wing was big enough to shelter both of them from it. The harder rain only lasted for about a quarter of an hour and it went back to the light drizzle just a few moments before Hiei reappeared.

Hiei walked out of the trees, his usually spiky hair weighed down by how wet it was and his clothing absolutely soaked but he had the back-up katana that he had gone for securely fastened to his belt. He was also walking a little on the slow side, well it was slow for him and that worried Ariana. Water was often said to be a fire elementals worst enemy and it seemed that the Hi-Koorime's half ice elemental heritage was giving him little protection against the soaking that the still falling rain had given him. Water in a bath or a shower was one thing as long as the water was warm, but chilly rainwater was an entirely different story.

Ariana mentally kicked herself for letting Hiei stay in such weather for so long when she really did know better. If she was really lucky and got him warmed up fast enough than Hiei would be fine, but the odds said that her stupidity would lead to one very sick Hi-Koorime and it would all be her fault. If she had left Yusuke with Puu and taken Hiei herself than he would have spent a mere fraction of the time he had taken in this inhospitable weather.

"Yusuke-kun, see if you can get Puu to switch to his smaller size." Said Ariana. "The rooms in my apartment are small enough that he'll be more than a bit cramped if he stays in his current form."

Ariana let go of Yusuke and walked up to Hiei who had stopped walking when he saw him moving towards him. She placed a hand on his cheek and frowned when his skin barely felt warm against her hand and she could feel him shivering ever so slightly. This close she could also see that he was a bit pale. Both were not signs that a quick warm-up would be all that was needed to keep him from becoming sick.

"Shit. You're freezing cold." Said Ariana. "We need to get you out of the rain and warmed up immediately."

When Hiei didn't respond she picked him up, cradling the shivering fire demon hybrid close in an effort to share as much body heat as possible. She turned towards Yusuke and was relieved to see that that he was now holding Puu in his arms, having already coaxed the blue feather phoenix into its smaller form.

"What's wrong with Hiei?" Asked Yusuke worry filling both his voice and eyes as he looked at his friend.

"He spent too much time in the rain." Said Ariana. "Fire elementals and cold water aren't exactly the best of friends. Come on. We need to get back to my place so that we can get Hiei-kun warmed up as quickly as possible."

Not even twenty minutes later, Ariana had Hiei in her bathroom. The large bathtub was rapidly filling up with water so hot that steam was coming off of it and she was quickly pulling the shivering and barely responsive Hi-Koorime out of his freezing cold, thoroughly soaked clothing. She knew that the water was hot enough that she would barely be able to stand it, but the heat was exactly what Hiei needed and he was going to get it even if she had to make herself sick in the process.

Once Hiei was out of his clothes, Ariana laid him on a bench in the bathroom and quickly shed her own clothing. Then she picked Hiei back up and went straight for the tub.

Hiei started to become more responsive almost as soon as he was in the hot water. He laid his head on Ariana's shoulder, looking around sleepily until his eyes landed on Yusuke who was now sitting on the bench and giving Hiei a very worried look.

'Just tired.' Said Hiei, to Yusuke telepathically. 'I shouldn't have stayed in that rain as long as I did.'

Kurama found Jin along with his ever-present partner Touya in a small home on a patch of land that Yusuke had given the two in Northern Toranin. His senses told him that the two of them were alone meaning that either Kagura and Kana had not found them or they had found them and had been defeated by Jin and Touya.

The front door was opened by Touya before Kurama was close enough to knock.

"What brings you out this far, Kurama?" Asked Touya. "Does Yusuke require our assistance with anything? We've been rather crazy rumors about him and Hiei being captured and Mukuro being outright slaughtered by one of Koenma's adopted sisters."

"That's just it." Said Kurama. "They aren't rumors."

The ice wielder paled as he realized that what he had thought nothing more than tall tales being spread as fact were in fact real facts. He stepped out of the doorway.

"You might as well come inside." Said Touya. "We have plans to make, friends to rescue, and peace to maintain."

"I truly wish it could be that easy." Said Kurama right before he walked into the small home. He, Jin, and Touya spent the night talking, then planning, and then deciding that they needed more information and scrapping all of their plans before they all went to bed at almost six the next morning. Kurama got the guestroom which was right across the hall from Jin and Touya'' bedroom.

The next morning Ariana woke almost a quarter of an hour before the time she had set her alarm clock for. She had Hiei in her arms and Yusuke, worry for his friend overriding his fears, was stretched out along Hiei's back.

The fact that Hiei had beat the odds and was still perfectly healthy was something that no one was going to take for granted. The night before it had taken three hours and two water changes before Hiei no longer needed the heat to keep himself from getting sick. But even after they had him out of the woods so to speak the Hi-Koorime was still utterly exhausted and had fallen to sleep the moment that his head had hit the pillow.

Ariana reached over and turned off the alarm clock, having no further use for it that morning.

That movement it seemed was enough to wake Yusuke who looked at Ariana over Hiei nervously, but considering what he had been through recently she really couldn't blame him for it.

"Did you sleep well?" Asked Ariana.

Yusuke hid his face in Hiei's hair and mumbled a response that Ariana could not understand.

"What'd you say?" Asked Ariana.

Yusuke looked at her for a second before once again hiding his face in Hiei's hair.

"Too early to be awake." Said Yusuke.

"Actually it's almost time to get up." Said Ariana. "I really don't think you want to see what happens when my father gets pissed off."

Yusuke reluctantly sat up and that motion was enough to wake up Hiei who mumbled something about the bathroom before disappearing from the bed and reappearing at the bathroom door.

"I think that I'll take that as my cue to start breakfast." Said Ariana, She leaned over Yusuke and quickly kissed his forehead before heading to the kitchen.

Yusuke followed Ariana into the kitchen, sat at the table, and then started to glare at it as if the table could be held responsible for the fact that he wasn't going to get anymore sleep.

A few seconds later Puu flew into the kitchen and landed on Yusuke's head. He didn't look any happier to be awake and promptly fell back asleep.

Ariana just turned around and got to work on breakfast. Even if neither of them seemed optimistic about it, she knew that Hiei and Yusuke needed a good breakfast. Besides, Saiyans never skipped meals when they could help it. To do so went against the grain on what was probably a genetic level and. even if it wasn't, no one was going to worry overly much on it.

It wasn't long after that that Hiei entered the kitchen and took a seat next to Yusuke.

About an hour later Ariana, Hiei, Yusuke, Puu, and Vegeta stepped through a portal in front of the Reikei Castle and into another dimension. Once there Ariana and Vegeta took to the air along with the now much larger Puu who was carrying both Yusuke and Hiei on his back. Not wanting to fly faster then the blue feather phoenix could keep up with, Vegeta and Ariana kept their pace down to half of what they usually would have flown at. If there was any conversation during the flight it was only between Hiei and Yusuke and probably telepathic because Ariana didn't hear either of the two say anything out loud.


	17. Chapter Sixteen

Author's Note: This has not been betaed.

Chapter Sixteen

The people that they had come to meet were assembled in front of a large, modern looking building with a sign that proclaimed it to be Capsule Corp. The power levels that Ariana sensed from those assembled were almost high enough to give her a headache. Based on the information that her father had given her, she came to the conclusion that her father had been holding down his power level and that these people weren't. Some of them also didn't appear to be very happy.

The moment that Yusuke and Hiei were on the ground, Ariana was right there. The power levels of the new people seemed to make both of them, especially Yusuke who seemed to have deliberately placed himself behind Hiei, uncomfortable and nervous. Ariana chalked it up to a combination of recent events and practically being bombarded on all sides by seemingly endless power.

There was a brief round of introductions with nothing more than names being given. The first person to actually speak was Kakarot's youngest son, Goten.

"It's not right to own somebody." Chirped Goten. "You should let them be free."

"I can't do that." Said Ariana. "I am bound by tradition to keep them because I have claimed them and even if that were not the case and I could I still would not. The circumstances are such that this actually is what is best for them."

"Best for them?" Asked Goku. "I fail to see how that's possible."

"The prince of the Reikai in their, dimension, Koenma, betrayed them and tried to have them killed. If I had not done what I did to put them under my protection they would now be dead."

"So where are you staying?" Asked Gohan in an obvious attempt to change the subject.

"Ariana is my daughter." Said Vegeta. "She will be staying with me."

"Why didn't you tell me that I have an older sister?" Asked Mirai.

"You have two." Said Vegeta.

"What?" Asked Mirai, seemingly too shocked to come up with an intelligent question.

"Twins." Said Ariana. "I have an evil identical twin that is currently in the other dimension in a place called the Makai, killing demons by the thousands because she's in a bad mood."

Suddenly Bulma started yelling at Vegeta in a high-pitched, strident voice that caused everyone with even the slightest bit of Saiyan blood and Hiei to wince in pain.

"HOW COME YOU NEVER TOLD ME ABOUT THEM, VEGETA?" Shouted Bulma.

The rant continued for several minutes before something happened that made Ariana intervene. Hiei, who had been standing in fronts of Yusuke, offering what support he could under the unusual circumstances that they had found themselves in, walked up to Ariana. He was trembling as he pressed himself against her side and all but whimpering in pain. Ariana put an arm around Hiei and pulled him closer before glancing back at Yusuke who seemed to have forgotten everything around them and was looking at Hiei with an expression almost as the one he had worn the night before. She pressed a quick, gentle kiss to the top of Hiei's head before turning an angry glare on Bulma.

"Shut the fuck up you stupid bitch. My father has done nothing wrong and don't you fucking dare accuse him of cheating. Not only was my mother dead before you ever met my father but he hasn't even properly claimed you as his mate meaning that under Saiyan law you have no right to tell him what he can an can not do. And most importantly, your hurting Hiei's ears and he does not deserve that." Said Ariana in a quiet voice that effectively cut off Bulma's screeching tirade.

Bulma whirled on Ariana and was about to lay into her when an unexpected voice was heard.

"Ariana is right, Bulma." Said Goku. "Vegeta didn't do anything wrong."

Bulma threw up her hands in exasperation turned around and walked into Capsule Corp.

A moment later Mirai asked, "Would you like me to show you where you'll be staying."

"Put them in the room across from mine." Ordered Vegeta.

"Sure,we do have quite a few things to unpack." Said Ariana.

Arlina, Yusuke, and Hiei followed Mirai through quite a few halls and up several flights of stairs before they reached their destination. Ariana was pleasantly surprised to find that the room with tis nice big bed and large window also had its own bathroom.

As soon as they were alone in their room, which in her opinion took far too long, Ariana put her full attention where she thought it really belonged. Hiei looked like he was doing better but she could see the pain flashing in his eyes after even the smallest sounds. The only reason she hadn't done something about it earlier was that she knew how much Hiei would hate having it pointed out in front of strangers.

Hiei crossed the room and opened the window, letting in Puu who was now in its smaller form into the room. Puu flew straight to Yusuke who snatched him out of the air, clutching the furry, blue spirit beast to his chest. Neither of them seemed to notice that even the soft sounds caused by Puu's flying had caused the red-eyed Hi-Koorime pain. Then Yusuke glanced ate her and Ariana realized that the former Spirit Detective wasn't as oblivious as he seemed. He just didn't want to say something that would cause Hiei even more pain by saying something.

Ariana was just about to use telepathy to tell Hiei to come to her could heal the damage that had been done when a particularly loud and shrill scream could be heard through the open window. Hiei winced in pain, clenching his hands at his sides as he tried to hide the amount of pain the scream had caused.

'Come here.' Ordered Ariana telepathically.

Hiei's eyes widened in surprise but he did as he had been ordered.

When Hiei was close enough, Ariana put a hand over one of his ears and almost winced when she realized how much damage Bulma had caused by her with her high-pitched screaming. It took several minutes for Ariana to completely heal Hiei and when she was finished he was giving her an odd look as if he didn't understand why she had healed his ears.

"Do you feel better?" Asked Ariana.

"Why did you do that?" Asked Hiei. "It would have healed on its own."

"Because you are mine and I hate seeing you in pain." Said Ariana.

Fifteen Minutes Later

Goku was waiting for Vegeta when the Saiyan Prince approached the GR to resume his interrupted training regimen What he really wanted to do was to demand that the older Saiyan make his daughter free Yusuke and Hiei like his youngest son had asked her to do. The problem was that Vegeta would see that as a threat against his daughter and act accordingly and as much as Goku loved sparing with him, the last thing that he wanted was a real fight between the two of them.

"What are you doing here, Kakarot?" Asked Vegeta, not even bothering to greet Goku. "Or do I even have to ask?"

"If it's that obvious the why haven't you done something about it?" Asked Goku.

"And what do you want me to do, Kakarot? Kill my own daughters? And, yes, I mean both of them because Yusuke was Ariel's before I intervened on his behalf and transferred ownership to Ariana." Said Vegeta.

"But, Vegeta, what they've done is still wrong." Said Goku.

"Then talk to Ariana and leave me alone." Said Vegeta. "Ariel most likely had no reason for what she did but you can be damned good reason for what she has done." Then Vegeta pushed past Goku and stalked into the GR without another word.

Present

Goku shifted nervously in the hall outside Ariana's room as he lifted his hand to knock on the door. He knew she was in there because he could feel not only her presence but that of Yusuke and Hiei as well so whether or not they were there was not the problem. The problem was that he had no idea how to start the conversation.

The door sprung open before Goku could bring himself to knock.

"What can I do for you, Kakarot?...Actually just come in. I know why you're here." Said Ariana. She stepped to the side, allowing the powerful Saiyan warrior to enter her room.

Before he spoke, Goku's expression changed, slipping from his normal happy-go-lucky expression and into a serious one that he normally reserved for battle.

"If you already know why I'm here than I would appreciate an answer to the obvious question." Said Goku.

"I did it because I only had two choices. The first was to stand back and watch Koenma betray and then kill them and the second was to act and put them under my protection in the only way that I knew would work. The only way I knew to keep them safe.

I'd had my eyes on them since before Koenma discovered them and it pissed me the fuck off when I learned of what he did and was trying to do to them. I couldn't just sit by and watch that much potential go to waste because of one narrow-minded bastard.

I would have placed them both under my protection the from the very beginning except when I first heard my twin was present and I couldn't keep her from taking off after Yusuke. I knew that by the time I caught up with her that she would have already claimed Yusuke as her own and that by the time I returned that Koenma would have already had Hiei executed.

It wasn't long after that that I was reunited with my father. When father visited for the second time, Ariel had injured Yusuke far beyond her own ability to heal and that pissed father off so much that he took Yusuke from Ariel and gave him to me. That is something that only the King or Crown Prince can do and even then it can only be done within the Royal Family." Said Ariana.

"But you've still enslaved them and it's still wrong." Said Goku. "Your reasons can't change that. Nothing can make what you did to them right."

"Maybe, maybe not." Said Ariana. "But by the time that I die both Hiei and Yusuke will be strong enough that no one where they come from will dare challenge them. A couple hundred years of a lifespan that could easily be thousands of years long in exchange for training that will enable them to protect all of their loved ones is a hell of a lot cheaper where they come from."

"And what of your twin?" Asked Goku.

"Oh, you won't have to bother with her at all." Said Ariana. "If she comes after Yusuke I'll deal with he myself."

"Why?" Asked Goku. "Why would you do that?"

"Because if she does that I will no longer have a choice in the matter." Said Ariana. "Yusuke and Hiei are mine. No matter who it is who wants to hurt them I will protect them even if it should cost me my life."

"Who are you going to ask to handle their training?" Asked Goku. "I know Vegeta well enough that once he starts your training that you won't have enough time or energy for theirs as well."

"I wouldn't know who to ask. From what I've heard from my father I know that some of Yusuke's attacks have at the very least a superficial resemblance to basic ki attacks, but Hiei has some very unique attacks. I don't know of any one else with anything like them."

"Describe them." Said Goku. "Maybe I know someone who can help him with that."

"Hiei is a half fire demon jaganshi who has mastered the Dragon of the Darkness Flame something that no one else has accomplished in several thousand years." Said Ariana. "His preferred weapon is also the katana."

"My son Gohan and I will be at Bulma's party tonight." Said Goku. "We'll see what they're capable of then."


	18. Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

Hiei spent the first part of the party avoiding Bulma's mother, Bunny Briefs. The ningen woman was safe but she was also exceedingly annoying. She kept pinching his cheeks , 'Aren't you just the cutest little thing I've ever seen.' The overall effect was almost enough to make Hiei want to kill her despite what he was sure the consequences of such an act would be. When Ariana saw him sitting in a corner by himself and snatched him up it was almost a relief. He had a feeling that as long as Ariana was present that Bunny would leave him alone.

Ariana took him to a tree some distance from Capsule Corp. where Yusuke was waiting for them. Goku and Gohan were a small distance away having a small but animated conversation.

"Goku and Gohan have said that they'll go easy on the two of you. Don't return the favor. Give them hell." Said Ariana.

"Do you want me to use the Dragon of the Darkness Flame?" Asked Hiei.

"Unless you can think of a reason not to use it and you want to, go for it." Said Ariana.

Yusuke's match with Goku started out as most people would expect it to go. Goku was stronger, faster, more experienced, and had been training to fight since before Yusuke had been born. Then Yusuke's hair lengthened and blue tattoos became to appear on his exposed skin as he tapped into the power that his Mazoku heritage had given him. Suddenly, even if it only lasted for a handful of seconds, the tables were tilted ever so slightly in Yusuke's favor.

"That was unexpected." Said Gohan.

"Especially when one considers the fact that until Yusuke was fourteen he had no formal training. Until then the only training he got were the fights that he picked and was challenged to on the streets." Said Ariana as a well aimed Spirit Gun hit Goku square in the chest momentarily stunning the Saiyan warrior and allow Yusuke to follow the initial attack with a Spirit Gun Rapid Fire.

"How old is he?" Asked Gohan.

"Eighteen." Said Ariana.

"How can he be that good with only four years of training?" Asked Gohan.

"Easy. Fighting is in his blood every bit as much as it is in your father and mine." Said Ariana.

"Your father would tell you that that's not possible because he isn't a Saiyan." Said Gohan.

"That's because he never met Raizen." Said Hiei.

"Raizen wasn't that much more powerful than Yusuke is now." Said Ariana.

"That was after a several thousand year hunger strike." Said Hiei. "At he end his power was little more than a drop in the bucket compared to what it was even five hundred years ago."

"And how would you know that?" Asked Gohan.

"I was there." Said Hiei.

"That's impossible." Said Gohan.

"He isn't lying." Said Ariana. "Hiei is roughly five hundred and fifty years old."

"He didn't need to know that." Said Hiei.

"I didn't know you were self-conscious about your age." Said Ariana. "Besides, it's not like I told him your birthday."

_'You know my birthday?_' Asked Hiei telepathically.

_'September 15' _Said Ariana. _'At least that's what your records in Reikai state.'_

_'Koenma didn't know that.' _Said Hiei.

_'Koenma never bothered actually looking at your record.' _Said Ariana.

_'Then how did he find out about the Detective and I?' _Asked Hiei.

_'He looked at Yusuke's file.' _Said Ariana.

Hiei and Ariana were jerked from their silent conversation when a ki blast from Goku hit Yusuke and sent him flying through the tree behind them. Yusuke got up, muttered a few curse words, and threw himself back into the fight.

A few seconds latter Yusuke fired a Spirit Gun point blank in Goku's face, but Goku ducked and the blast only knocked down several trees in the area surrounding the area that they were fighting in. Goku's fist in Yusuke's stomach knocked the breath out of the former Spirit Detective but he still pulled of the Shot Gun that he had been powering up.

"I know a little old lady who can hit harder than that." Said Yusuke.

Goku laughed.

"That's hard to believe." Said Goku.

"Did he get hit upside the head when I wasn't looking?" Asked Gohan.

"No, he's just having fun." Said Ariana.

Yusuke went flying by, propelled by a particularly hard pinch to his stomach.

"Don't you think you should intervene?" Asked Gohan. "Yusuke is getting pretty beat up."

"You underestimate him." Said Ariana.

"I think you are overestimating him." Said Gohan.

"And you should shut up." Said Hiei. "The only thing coming out of your mouth is utter stupidity."

"I second that." Said Yusuke as he walked past them. There was a large bruise on his back that made Ariana wonder when his shirt had disappeared.

When the fight was over, nearly half an hour later it was without anyone intervening because Yusuke was the one who ended it. Yusuke's back, front, and arms were covered in bruises but he was still wearing a big grin when he sat on the ground near Ariana's feet.

"Have fun?" Asked Ariana.

"Yeah. I hope I get to do that again sometime." Said Yusuke.

"I think that I can arrange that." Said Ariana.

Hiei's fight with Gohan started out with Gohan on the defensive as Hiei pounded him with a barrage of attacks most of which made it through the half-saiyan's defenses. It was several seconds before Gohan managed to turn the tides and make Hiei go on the defensive. He did not, however; manage to land a single blow on Hiei.

Several minutes later, Gohan began using ki blast which Hiei evaded as easily as he had the earlier kicks and punches.

"You should have told me that Hiei was that fast." Said Goku.

"He's faster than that." Said Yusuke. "He's barely going half speed right now."

"Half?" Asked Goku.

"And if he breaks out the Dragon of the Darkness Flame his top speed will go up even higher." Said Yusuke. "But I think the next thing he's going to do will be to bring out his katana."

A few minutes later Hiei tossed his cloak at Yusuke who grabbed them out of the air. Hiei did bring out his katana like Yusuke had predicted but a ki-blast that Hiei dodged managed to hit the katana, breaking it a couple of inches above the hilt. Hiei threw the katana at Gohan who dodged it and then doubled his speed, pushing Gohan back onto the defensive as Hiei used Fists of the Mortal Flame which sent Gohan flying clear across the clearing and through four trees before he came to a stop.

"Was that the..." Started Goku only to be interrupted by Yusuke.

"No. That was the Fists of the Mortal Flame." Said Yusuke. "I haven't seen him break that one out since he went up against Kuro Momotaro at the Dark Tournament."

Than Hiei tossed the bandana that covered his Jagan eye to the ground and began unwrapping the wards that covered his left arm.

"Now that is him getting the Dragon of the Darkness Flame ready." Said Ariana.

Hiei launched his dragon straight up into the air. The dragon gained quite a bit of altitude before turning around and charging right back at Hiei who smirked evilly at his opponent who was staring at him in utter confusion.

"He isn't by any chance related to Vegeta, is he?" Asked Goku. "Because that smirk looks an awful lot like his." Said Goku.

"You do realize that my father would kick your ass for implying that there is anything but one hundred percent Saiyan blood running through his veins, right?" Asked Ariana.

"He isn't here." Said Goku. "And shouldn't Hiei be getting out of the way of his own attack?"

"Sit back and watch. Hiei knows what he's doing." Said Yusuke.

Hiei's dragon slammed into him in a display that completely destroyed his shirt without damaging anything else that he was wearing.

"Remind me to buy extra shirts for you and Hiei next time I go shopping, Yusuke." Said Ariana.

"Okay." Said Yusuke.

Hiei threw himself at Gohan who had only made it halfway back from where Hiei's last attack had sent him. Seeing the even faster Hiei practically flying at him, Gohan powered up to Super Saiyan.

Yusuke pressed the side of his face against Ariana's leg and wrapped an arm around it.

Everyone was shocked when Hiei still proved to be significantly faster than Gohan.

"Damn, that proves it." Said Yusuke. "I knew he was holding back on the speed when we sparred but I had no clue he'd cut it down that much."

A few seconds later, Gohan managed to push Hiei onto the defensive where he kept him until Hiei's attack ran it's course and the fight came to an end with Yusuke catching his friend before he could hit the ground.

"Who do you think I should ask to handle their training?" Asked Ariana.

"Mirai would be best to take on Hiei's training. I'll handle Yusuke's myself." Said Goku. "Do you think that the day after tomorrow in the afternoon would be a good time to start Yusuke's training?"

"Sounds good to me." Said Ariana.

It was then that Bulma's strident voice was heard announcing the arrival of the pizza delivery guy. Both Goku and Gohan disappeared without a word. Despite the temptation to do so, Ariana did not follow them. Instead she took Yusuke and Hiei to their room where she put Hiei to bed after wrapping a fresh set of wards over the now dormant dragon and putting him in a pair of pajama pants and healed what remained of Yusuke's numerous bruises. Then, and only then, did she go to get he share of the pizza.

The next morning Ariana woke first. In the night Hiei had cuddled into her front and Yusuke had positioned himself almost all the way on the other side of the bed. Ariana wrapped her left arm around Hiei and smiled slightly when Hiei pushed himself closer before opening his eyes. Hiei's entire body tensed for a moment when he realized the position he was in but he made no attempt to get away. Ariana kissed his cheek and began running a hand up and down his back.

A moment later Hiei made a small unidentifiable sound and then but his lip to keep anymore from coming out. Hiei decided that this time he wasn't going to let he know how much he like what she was doing to him. It didn't work. A few seconds later another small sound slipped from Hiei's mouth and he bit into his lip harder and harder until his teeth cut into his lip, drawing blood. Hiei stopped for a moment and then bit back down on his lip in a new place until that too was bleeding. It was the third time that that happened that Hiei let out a small whimper of pain.

Ariana froze instantly when she heard that sound and then gently pushed Hiei away from her until she saw his bleeding lip. She brought up her left hand and gently brushed a finger across Hiei's bleeding bottom lip, healing the self-inflicted wound. She made the blood on her finger vanish with a simple ki trick she had learned from her father.

"If you'd wanted me to stop, why didn't you ask me to?" Asked Ariana.

Hiei just looked away so Ariana reached out and gently made him look at her.

"Why?" Asked Ariana.

"I didn't want you to stop." Said Hiei. "I just didn't want you to know that I liked it." The last part was mumbled but Ariana had no trouble understanding it.

"And why would you want me to not know that?" Asked Ariana.

Hiei looked away again and this time she let him because the faint redness on his cheeks was all the answer that she needed.

_'Is it because you want more than what you've been getting?' _Asked Ariana. _'Do you want me to finish what I started that day in the kitchen?'_

Hiei's blush darkened but he did nod.

_'It would wake the Detective and he might not have a good reaction.' _Said Hiei. There was a tinge of what could easily be regret in his mental voice.

Ariana go up and went through the dresser pulling out clothes that she'd put away before she went to bed.

"Get in the shower. I'll be there in a couple of minutes." Ordered Ariana as she tried to remember what logic she had used when putting the clothes away and also trying to figure out why she always ended up putting things away or cleaning when she was drunk.

She heard Hiei get out of bed and walk to the bathroom and the only thing that that made her wonder was if he would like what she had in mind for what would happen during their shower.


	19. Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

Hiei wasn't quite sure what he'd been expecting from Ariana, but being told to get in the shower definitely wasn't it. It wasn't what he'd wanted either, but he knew that that was out of the question. He just couldn't do that to Yusuke no matter how tempted he had been. He blamed that on his demonic instincts because ever since she had forced him to submit that first time a tiny part of him had been expecting to her dominate him in that way as well.

When Ariana entered the bathroom Hiei was trying to adjust the temperature of the shower and very much tempted to cuss at how finicky and difficult is was being. He nearly jumped when he felt Ariana's lips on the back of his neck as one of her arms snaked around his waist and pulled him back against her.

"If I give you a blowjob, do you think you can be quiet enough to not wake Yusuke?" Asked Ariana. "I know it's not exactly what you want but it would take much too long if we did what I had in mind for that."

Ariana had been close enough that Hiei had felt her lips move against his skin and her breath against the sensitive skin of his neck. It was a combination that sent shivers down his spine even as the words sent vivid pictures that went straight to his groin through his mind.

"Why are you offering this?" Asked Hiei. "You'll get nothing out of it."

"Because I want to." Said Ariana. There were more reasons than that but she didn't feel like slowing things down by going into that. Hiei didn't need to know that one of the many reasons she had offered had been because she wanted to hear how many sounds she could get him to make even as he tried to be quiet. Later she planned on doing this again and then she would try to figure out just how loud she could make him scream his pleasure.

"I don't know." Said Hiei. "No one... Kurama never did that."

"Then it will be his loss and my gain." Said Ariana. Then she ran a hand down Hiei's stomach, loving the way his muscles reacted to her touch. When she reached the base of his semi-hard member she wrapped her hand around it and squeezed ever so slightly as she ran her hand up and back down Hiei's increasingly hard member. When Hiei let out a low moan and threw his head back so that it rested against her shoulder she added a twist to the motion, earning herself a slightly louder moan. Both of those moans were music to her ears, making her wish that she could take her time and learn just how many sounds she could get him to make and how loud she could make him scream his pleasure. She roughly jerked her mind off of that particular track. Right now was not the time for such thoughts though she hoped that later would be an entirely different matter.

A few minutes later she reluctantly let go of Hiei completely which caused him to make a small, unhappy sound before she ordered him to turn around. When she did she briefly kissed him and then dropped to her knees in front of Hiei and the placed her hands on his hips to keep him from moving and making her gag in the process. That thought brought forth several less pleasant memories that had also featured her on her knees but she pushed them aside before they were fully formed. She was not going to let the terror of her childhood make her stop what she was doing.

Hiei's large member was already fully hard just from what she had done with her hand and was already dripping pre-cum so she licked away the salty fluid, earning herself a pleasured moan that was much louder than those that had come before. Taking the tip in her mouth she swirled her tongue around it and then was surprised when Hiei put one hand in her hair and let out a rather muffled moan. She glanced up and saw that the reason for it had been that he was using one of his hands to muffle himself and seeing that as the cause immediately went back to the task at hand. She swirled her tongue around the head a few time, relaxed her throat, and swallowed his shaft clear to the base so that her nose was buried in his coarse, black pubic hair causing Hiei to try to push his hips forward as his hand fisted in her hair and he let out a particularly loud but still muffled moan. After that all it took was some humming and swallowing a few times before Hiei came.

Ariana stood and held Hiei close until his legs were firmly under him again and then she turned him around and gave him a gentle shove into the shower. As much as she didn't want to rush things, she wanted to be out of the shower before Yusuke woke up and started to wonder where she and Hiei had gone.

After a hurried shower, Ariana and Hiei reentered the bedroom to find out that Yusuke had just woke up. He was sitting up on the bed and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"How long have the two of you been up?" Asked Yusuke.

"We haven't been up long." Said Ariana. "You hungry?"

"Starving." Said Yusuke. "So what's for breakfast?"

Ariana threw some clothes she pulled out for him before the shower at him.

"I don't know. Get dressed and we can go and find out." Said Ariana.

When they finally made they way to the kitchen for breakfast after taking several wrong turns, they found Goten, Gohan, Trunks and Bulma.

"For the umpteenth time no one is eating until somebody tells me who replaced my cast-iron frying pans with light-wight aluminum?." Screeched Bulma.

Since no one seemed to have noticed their presence, Ariana silently pulled Hiei and Yusuke out of the kitchen and then deliberately put a small distance between them and it before she said anything.

"Anyone in favor of me getting my money and all of us going out to eat?" Asked Ariana. "While we're out we could also see if we can find Hiei a new katana or maybe two. Then, hopefully; when we get back the situation in the kitchen will have already been resolved one way or another."

Before Yusuke or Hiei answered a nearby door opened and Vegeta walked in from outside, obviously on his way to breakfast after his morning training in the GR.

"I wouldn't go to the kitchen if I were you." Said Ariana. Then when her father gave her an odd look she told him exactly what she'd seen in the kitchen. "I'd invite you to join us for breakfast, but I don't have enough money to feed two Saiyans and I need to get Hiei a new katana because his broke last night."

"I'll pay for the food." Said Vegeta. "On the way there you can tell me how the fighting went. The woman wouldn't let me watch. She threatened to permanently shutdown my GR."

They all exited the door that Vegeta had come in through just in time to see Gohan sneaking out a window. The half-saiyan took one glance at Ariana and those with her and then flew off at top speed. Less then a second later his younger brother snuck out of the same window and took to the air at an even higher speed.

Two seconds after that Trunks came running out of the building and firmly put his father between him and the door.

"Yamcha switched out the frying pans again and Mom won't believe that he did it." Said Trunks. "She keeps insisting that it had to be one of us."

"This has happened before?" Asked Ariana.

"Several times." Said Trunks. "I think that Gohan and Goten went to have a talk with him so I'll leave it to them because I'm going to go get myself some breakfast."

Vegeta gave Trunks a look that nobody understood, causing the half-saiyan to shrug his shoulders.

Half an hour later they were sitting down to a breakfast that was gone in less then two minutes for the Saiyans. Yusuke and Hiei took longer to eat and while they did, Ariana told her father and brother exactly what had happened in the fighting that they had missed the night before.

When breakfast was over, Vegeta and Trunks went off for to spar, leaving Ariana Hiei and Yusuke in front of the small all-you-can-eat restaurant that the eating capacity of the Saiyans had probably just eaten of business.

It was almost noon before Ariana found sword shop with a katana that Hiei found to be acceptable. A katana had already been purchased that was good enough for training, but he needed far better to stand the test of a real battle. The previous twenty or so shop owners had been polite and friendly even though Hiei had spent a great deal of time belittling the quality of their merchandise. The current shop owner was anything but polite and friendly.

"I want this one." Said Hiei as he pointed at a katana in a display case. "How much is it?"

The shop owner dropped his voice and whispered something that only Hiei heard, but Hiei's expression was enough for Ariana to know that whatever price the shopkeeper had asked for was entirely unacceptable. No other shopkeeper had provoked this response, the angry glare, stiff posture, and oddly enough after a moment it seemed that Hiei's anger was causing him to tremble as though he was having problems keeping himself under control, but Ariana could see that it wasn't all caused by anger. There was also fear. Something about this seemingly normal, if rude, shopkeeper was making Hiei afraid. He hid it well but Ariana could see it in his eyes. She didn't like it but Hiei had experience in matters like this so she held off until Hiei took a step back and then another.

She approached Hiei from where she had been looking at a display of daggers, Yusuke was across the street watching as a group of normal humans had an impromptu tournement in an alley, and pulled Hiei against her. It didn't calm Hiei as she had hoped it would, but that could be done later. The more immediate concern was the shopkeeper who had started everything.

"What was it that you were saying to Hiei?" Asked Ariana. "I didn't quite catch it."

"Merely the price of the katana that he asked for . It's my finest and I priced it accordingly, he must have thought the price I gave him was too high." Said the shopkeeper quickly. Too quickly.

"Really?" Asked Ariana. "Is that so, Hiei? What price did he ask for?"

"Damn bastard said that he'd let me use the katana whenever I wanted if I gave myself to him." Said Hiei, his voice a barely understandable growl of anger.

"Well he's nuts if he thinks that I'm going to let him touch you, Hiei." Said Ariana.

"The kid is lying. I never said anything like that." Protested the shopkeeper.

"Lies." Said Hiei.

"So you really though that Hiei is a kid? That makes you a pedophile you know. One hint to the parents whose children go to that elementary school not far from here could have some bad results on your business. Give me the real price for the katana my friend wants and I'll consider not telling them what your predilection is." Said Ariana, a dangerous smirk on her face as she looked the shopkeeper in the eye.

"Damn it already. It's two hundred." Said the shopkeeper as he pulled the katana in question from the display case and placed it on the glass counter top. Ariana pulled a wad of money from her pocket that she knew for certain was a good twenty dollars short and placed it next to the katana. Hiei grabbed the katana and placed it on his belt under his cloak.

Ariana and Hiei were gone before the shopkeeper could even begin to count the cash and realize that he had been short-changed.

Two seconds later in a large tree that had been a conveniently planted in front of the weapon's store that they had just left Hiei was glaring up at Ariana who was standing on the branch that he was sitting on.

"Why the hell did you do that? I could have handled the bastard myself." Said Hiei, his anger making his voice sound more like a snarl than words.

"Well it seems that your anger is helping you to overcome your fear, Little One, but do try to remember that you are mine." She moved more quickly than Hiei's eyes could follow and suddenly she was sitting on the tree branch in front of him, legs trailing down on either side.

"As if I could forget." Said Hiei. "You didn't answer my question."

"I thought you already knew the answer. I helped you because I hate to see anything make you scared. It is a look that should never ever have cause to be expressed in your eyes."

Hiei just looked away. It was obvious that he didn't believe her. It hurt, but it was something that she believed would change in time.


	20. Chapter Ninteen

Chapter Nineteen

Author's Notes: Sorry for the delay, I make no promises as to when chapter twenty will be posted. Also be warned that this chapter is the start of a particularly unhappy part of the fic that will last for several chapters at least.

Ariana started mentally cursing the moment she sensed her twin sister's presence. Ariel's aura was filled with anger and hatred which made the fact that she seemed to be heading straight for Yusuke a very scary thing.

A split second later, Hiei's eyes widened in shock as he too sensed Ariel.

"Grab Yusuke and run for Capsule Corp" Said Ariana. "I'll do my best to stop Ariel, but I'd feel better if I knew that the two of you were far enough away that a stray shot won't be able to hit you."

Hiei nodded and flitted off. Ariana knew that when it came to something like protecting Yusuke from Ariel that the Hi-Koorime would obey her.

Ariana took off at top speed after suppressing her ki to the best of her ability. If she took Ariel by surprise she would have the advantage and as well as the two knew each other's strengths, weaknesses, and fighting styles, it was generally the one who found a way to gain even a tiny advantage who won. A matter of seconds later, she slammed into her twin in mid air at an angle that sent Ariel plummeting to the ground, creating a small crater where she landed head first.

Ariana was not the slightest bit surprised to see her twin stand up in the center of the crater as though she wasn't the slightest bit hurt. What did surprise Ariana was that at this distance there was something fundamentally different about her sister's aura, something foreign that was amplifying Ariel's power by a significant amount.

Ariana began to wonder if she could stop her twin sister all by herself, but promptly shoved all such thought out of her mind. Yusuke and Hiei were counting on her and she would not let herself fail them.

Not even a full second later, Ariana felt a sharp blow to her back and felt herself falling at high speed. She just barely managed to slow her fall enough to keep herself from creating a second crater. She glared up at her smirking twin for a long moment before taking to the air.

"Just give up already, Ariana." Said Ariel. "There's no way that a weakling like you could ever hope to defeat me. If you give Yusuke back to me, I'll let you live. I might even let you keep Hiei."

"Do you really think that I'd just let you near Yusuke after what you did to him?" Asked Ariana. "You can't even keep himself from hurting him beyond your own ability to heal. If you took him, how long would you have him before you have to come running back to me because he's on the verge of death and there isn't a damn thing that you can do about it?"

"I get carried away one time having fun and you spoil everything." Said Ariel.

"I very much doubt that Yusuke would call nearly bleeding to death because you slit his stomach open a fun experience that he would like to repeat." Said Ariana. "What you call fun, other people tend to refer to as torture."

"You should stop being so uptight, sister mine." Said Ariel as she gathered a ball of ki in her hand.

"Just because my idea of fun doesn't include blood, and causing other people pain and emotional trauma doesn't mean that I'm uptight. It just means that I didn't take my cues for normality from that damn fucked-up lizard like you apparently did."

Ariana barely managed to avoid Ariel's ki blast, promptly returning it with two of her own, the first of which her twin deflected with a ki blast of her own only to be hit by the one that she hadn't seen behind it. Within seconds the fight had devolved into sending and dodging ki blast with only the occasional attack hitting anyone as Ariana carefully maneuvered her twin further and further away from populated areas. She considered it nothing short of a miracle that none of the attacks that she had dodged had been aimed at the ground and that because of that, it seemed that no innocent bystanders would be harmed by her fight with her twin sister.

~*~

Hiei had barely reached Yusuke before the fighting had started. He skidded to a stop, grabbed Yusuke's arm, and took off running in the direction of Capsule Corp at what he knew was that the fastest speed that the other would be able to maintain for the entire distance, with out so much as a single word of explanation as he had neither the time nor the breath for them at the moment. As he had thought that he would, Yusuke went along with out question or complaint.

The moment that the fighting had started, Hiei heard Yusuke mutter several surprised cuss words under his breath and was relieved when the shock did not make him so much as slow down the slightest bit. With Ariel's power level which had somehow become so much higher than Ariana's it was possible that the only thing that could keep the two of them safe was if they were close enough to Vegeta, Goku, or Goku's children that they could protect them as Hiei was sure that they would do. With Vegeta he was sure that it would come down to a matter of family honor, but with the others it would be for an entirely different reason that was based more on human morals than anything else.

Several minutes into the fight it became even more clear who the inevitable winner would be. Ariel's power levels were still climbing while Ariana's were falling steadily. Hiei felt more and more like cussing himself with every passing second. At their current speed they wouldn't have covered so much as half the distance that they needed to cover before Ariel defeated and most likely killed Ariel. After that it would only take a matter of seconds to catch up with Hiei and Yusuke who even fighting together hadn't a hope of defeating her.

Hiei doubled his speed, despite the fact that he knew that Yusuke wouldn't be able to keep it up for long. He hoped that if he alternated between the higher speed and the lower speed every minute or so that they would put more distance between themselves and Ariel and that by the time that she came for them that they would be close enough that one of the other Saiyans would sense what was going on and come to their rescue and though it was a very slim possibility that it would happen, at the moment it seemed to be the only hope that they had.

A few minutes later, Hiei was forced to a stop as Ariel swooped in out of nowhere and grabbed Yusuke. When Hiei looked up, he saw Ariel floating in mid air and holding both Yusuke and Ariana who both seemed to be unconscious.

"Are you going to fight or go along quietly?" Asked Ariel. "If I have to make two trips then I will happily force you to watch as I punish Yusuke for your actions."

"You speak as if I have a choice in this at all." Said Hiei in a uncharacteristically quiet voice..

"Good. Then start heading for the portal." Said Ariel. "I'm sure that you already know where it is."

After several hours running at top speed to keep up with Ariel, they arrived at a small one-room cottage in the south-east of Alaric.

Once in side, Ariel threw Yusuke and Ariana in the large bed that dominated the room. The rest of the room was taken up with a small kitchenette, a table with four chairs, and a large dresser. Hiei assumed that the only door leading out of that room was most likely leading to the bathroom.

Ariel started going through the drawers of the dresser, so Hiei just stood silently near the still open door, hoping that whatever came out of that drawer was not something that would harm himself or Yusuke. He took at step towards the bed, but Ariel turned around and leveled a glare at him that said in no uncertain terms that he should stay right where he was and that there would be hell to pay if he didn't.

After Ariel, finally found what she was looking for which was a collar made out of a dull black metal, she walked over to the bed and roughly rolled her twin on to her back. Ariel than placed the collar around her twin's neck, smirking as Ariana's power level dropped from the low it had been at since their battle had to ended to so low that Hiei could barely sense it at all. That done, she shoved Ariana to the other side of the bed where Yusuke, though still unaware of his surroundings, was slowly coming to.

Ariel glanced over at Hiei.

"Close the door and get your ass over here." Ordered Ariel.

Hiei did as ordered, mentally cursing at Ariel, using words and phrases that he did not dare say out loud for fear of what she would do to Yusuke.

Ariel held out a hand. "Hand over the swords. Now."

Hiei handed over the two katana that had been purchased that day and was forced to watch as Ariel snapped them both and threw the pieces on the floor.

"Strip and lie down on the bed."

Hiei hesitated for a split second before obeying that order, but apparently even that split second was too much of a hesitation as far as Ariel was concerned because the moment that he was lying down she pinched one of his nipples and gave it a hard twist and held it there for several seconds.

"Too slow." Said Ariel. "Hesitating like that will only make me mad and I've already told you who will pay the price if you get me mad." She trailed her hand down his chest and over his stomach before wrapping it around his penis and giving it a harsh squeeze that caused Hiei to cry out in pain.

A gasp from his left side made Hiei glance in that direction, only to end up looking into brown eyes that were wide with shock as Yusuke figured out what had happened and what was currently happening and going to happen to Hiei and himself.

Yusuke sat up quickly, only to be pushed back down by Ariel.

"Stay there and watch while your little friend and I have some fun." Ordered Ariel. "If you watch the entire show, I just might think about going a wee bit easy on him and not bring out one of my knives. You do remember my knives, don't you Yusuke?"

Yusuke's eyes widened even more and he nodded, seeming to be unable to speak as he considered exactly what Ariel's words implied that she would do if he disobeyed and that the fact that even if he did obey she would most likely do it anyway. He was relieved when Ariel seemed to accept his nonverbal reply as acceptable, and almost gave into the urge to sigh in relief.

When Ariel turned back to Hiei she wrapped her hand around his abused penis in a firm grip and started running it up and down it's length, randomly loosening and tightening her grip as she went until, despite himself and the pain that he was feeling, Hiei was hard and completely against his will arching into the painful touch.

A slight change in Ariel's smirk was Hiei's only warning before she leaned over, took his unabused nipple into her mouth, and swirled her tongue around it once before harshly biting down on it as she gave his soon to be bruised penis an especially vicious squeeze at the same time.

Hiei's scream of pain only made Ariel smile and do it again. When Hiei did not scream again, she frowned, got off the bed, and walked over to the dresser where she pulled a knife out of the drawer. She walked back to the bed with a particularly unpleasant smile on her face.

"Yusuke, the choice is yours, you either give Hiei a blow job or I treat him to my favorite blade." Said Ariel. "Which will it be? Option one or option two? Or do you want me to decide for you?"

"Option one." Said Yusuke, quietly, eyes fixed on the blade that Ariel was holding.

"Then get to it, before I get bored and decide that I want to see what Hiei would look like covered in his own blood." Said Ariel.

Yusuke did not hesitate in crawling towards Hiei, not even daring a glance in the direction of his face because of fear that Ariel would see that as hesitation and go through with her threat. He licked Hiei's now flaccid member from the base all the way to the tip before taking the head in his mouth and swirling his tongue around it a few times. With his right hand he began to, ever so gently fondle Hiei's balls.

When Hiei began to become hard under his gentle treatment, Yusuke took as much of his penis into his mouth as he thought that he could handle without gagging and swallowed around it and was so surprised when Hiei came that he couldn't do anything but swallow.

Yusuke was caught completely off guard when Ariel grabbed him by the neck, pulled him off Hiei, and then threw him against the wall that the bed was pushed up against hard enough that when his head hit the wall it knocked him out, but in the short time he was flying through the air he heard Hiei whispering in his mind.

_'This is all that bitch Ariel's fault. I promise you that someway, somehow she will pay dearly for what she has done to us' _Whispered Hiei. _'Come hell or high water that fucking bitch will pay.'_


End file.
